The Way Things Once Were
by Lovely Stories
Summary: Didn't happen : Kagome is blamed for Kikyo's death by Inuyasha because he had to go and save her while Naruku finished Kikyo off. Kagome disappears for a little while and is now capable of defending herself. Not needing Inuyasha... Koga is in!
1. PROLOGUE

Lovely Stories April. 4th, 2012. 4:29/30PM

**The Way Things Once Were**

[Hello! :) Lovely Stories here. This is my first "FanFiction" and I really hope you guys like my story! I have like 9 stories that I wanna do about Inuyasha (I just finished the series. Like today, the 4th of April, 2012.) but of course I dunno if I'll actually DO all of them. Just saying, I'm new to this whole thing so I really hope that I do things right and get the job done! :] I don't understand what the "Updates" are, btw D:

Uhh… OH! My stories generally tend to be sad mushed up with a whole lotta love.

Hope you guys enjoy it! Here's Chapter One of "The Way Things Once Were"!

Btw the title is subject to change, I'm just putting one in right now because it seems like a suitable title for RIGHT NOW.

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY! :) and are Reviews like Comments, basically? lol sorry I'm kinda confused for this site :S

P.S. I have THREE ideas for this main storyline. I'm doing a.) b.) right now, and hopefully I'll be able to do c.) because I love that idea too 3 :)

^ I changed from a.) to b.) because a.) seems kinda silly right now. I hafta think of way to CORRECTLY portray that story and make it make sense and make it believable and until then… here's b.) **AH FORGET IT I'M COMBINING b.) AND c.) BECAUSE I THINK IT'LL BE A LITTLE BIT MORE ENTERTAINING**! Can't handle those strike-throughs anymore, lol :-B

**** AND I ALMOST FORGOT TO SAY... I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA- ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASHI. THANK-YOU. :) **]**

**PROLOGUE**

Kagome could not clearly process what happened when Kikyo died, everything was so fuzzy and static-like, but she did know this: Inuyasha had held Kikyo in his arms, crying, and he turned to her with complete hate in his eyes, yelling. "It's all your fault, Kagome! Just… just because I had to save… save YOU… I could've… I _should've_ saved Kikyo… oh Kikyo…" he held her tighter. "… WHY COULDN'T YOU SAVE YOURSELF! YOU'RE SO USELESS, KAGOME! I thought I could count on you to purify Kikyo, but you didn't! Then you went and landed yourself in trouble and when I saved you, Naraku had his chance and killed her!" He got up, shoulders shaking, tears streaming down his face as he put Kikyo gently on the ground. "STOP WAITING FOR ME TO SAVE YOU! Save yourself! I'm so sick and tired of you not even helping us in more than half of our battles!"

"Inuyasha! Please, try to calm down-" started Miroku, approaching Inuyasha.

"Yes, Inuyasha, it is NOT Kagome's fault, don't you DARE-" began Sango, stomping up to him beside Miroku.

Inuyasha turned to the two and growled at them loudly, causing them to back up. "SHUT UP!" He pointed a finger at the two. "Stop defending her! I know that you guys know what I mean. And you!" He now pointed a gnarled finger at Kagome. "It's your entire fault, all because of you… Kikyo could've been saved… I-I chose the wrong person to save." He said in a small voice as he sank to ground and cried.

Kagome shook her head, tears streaming down her face. She cupped a hand to her mouth. "I-I'm sorry, Inuyasha." She whispered. "I'm… I'm so sorry!" She turned her back and ran back towards the well, jumping in without even a glance back at the feudal era.


	2. Chapter One: He's Out of My Life

Lovely Stories April. 4th, 2012 – From 10:something PM to 11:22PM: Session Ended

[HEY GUYS :)

To my WONDERFUL first two Reviewers/Comments- THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THAANK-YOUU. Here's the first chapter! ;)

I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed reading it- yes, I realize that Kagome's mother was in a big hurry to drive Sota to the hospital to visit Shinji (who I just made up, by the way) but I wanted to fit a lotta stuff into it, so… just ignore the fact that that's a long thing to write when hurrying! :-B Thanks! Unless she writes super fast, lol. :-B

But enough of my babbling! Sweet! A Prologue AND a Chapter all in the same day! :)

LOVELOVELOVE

Lovely Stories =]

P.S. I have noo flippin' idea how to edit the my chapter and Prologue so far ON THE SITE. Like change some stuff. I mean, it happened once and now I can't remember how I did it D:

SOO I'll probs be re-uploading it if I need to update on something I said or fix an error if there are any! Thanks for bearing with me!  
>^ Never mind I found out how like two minutes ago which is what I'm doing right NOW LOL LOL LOL!<p>

P.P.S. HOLY CRUDS THIS JUST IN AT LIKE 11:30PM I DISCOVERED I'VE GOT A THIRD REVIEW/COMMENT! :O :O :O HOLY CRUD I LOVE YOU GUYS. THANK-YOU.

SHOUT-OUT TO THE FIRST ONES :')

Boarai – FIRST REVIEWER/COMMENT ! :')

Sherry15 – Second Reviewer/Comment ! :')

InuGirl4ever12 – Third Reviewer/Comment :')

P.P.P.S. 1457. That's the word count for this chapter. If you were curiouuus. 'Cause I was. lol :-B SUCH A NERD!

** I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR Shinji BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI. Thank-you :)]

**Chapter One: He's Out of My Life and The Start of Mission One**

Kagome woke up from a fitful night-mare that involved a half-demon looking like he wanted to rip her pieces.

In her dream, he kept on shouting that he hated her and hated having to protect her all the time.

She pulled her blanket cover up to her cheeks and was surprised when she felt wetness stain the covers. She looked down and saw that they were tear stains. She must've cried herself to sleep… and then it all flashed back to her.

* * *

><p>When Kagome had returned back from the well, she was a total mess.<p>

Clumsily fumbling with the vines that led out of the well, she slowly stumbled out and opened the door of the shrine.

The bright sunlight hit Kagome's eyes as she blindly walked across the path where the Sacred Tree stood and she hit the pavement, her hands roughly grazing the heated pavement from the sun-rays.

Tears continued to pour down her face as she stared down at the ground, the tears dripping and melting into the ground.

"Kagome?" called out Kagome's grandpa. "Kagome, is that you?"

"Kagome!" yelled out another voice. Sota? She didn't know. The voices were becoming faint. She looked up, her vision becoming blurred. "Kagome? Hey, are you alright, sis?" She heard some shuffling. "Mom! Mom! Something's wrong with Kagome!"

"Kagome, what happened?" called out her grandpa. Or was it her mom? The voices all blended together as Kagome dropped to the ground and blacked out.

* * *

><p>Kagome shook her head, slapping her cheeks with her hands. <em>Come on, pull yourself together!<em> She thought to herself. _Don't let that… that _Inuyasha _get to you! You're stronger than that! Stronger…_ she pondered at that thought as she hopped out of her bed and pulled the curtains out to reveal beaming sunlight like yesterday's.

"WHY COULDN'T YOU SAVE YOURSELF! YOU'RE SO USELESS, KAGOME!"

Inuyasha's pounding voice made its way back to her aching head.

She rubbed her temples. _Useless, eh? Well, I'll show him. I'll show him that I'm _not _useless. I can defend myself, noo problem… no problem._

She rubbed her temple to soothe the pain and sat on her bed.

"I'll prove him wrong! I am definitely NOT useless, and Inuyasha, of all people, cannot bring me down!" Kagome thought aloud as she bit her lip. "Inuyasha… I'll NEVER forgive him for how he reacted to me. Even though Kikyo had just died, no-one, NO-ONE should be acting that way to a girl that did everything she could to save Kikyo. It wasn't my fault to be in that mess. And anyways… why did he save me? Just so he could yell at me after and blame ME for Kikyo's death?" She scoffed and thought in a small voice, "Maybe… did Inuyasha… did he like me or something?"

She widely opened her eyes and slapped her cheeks again. "What am I saying? Of COURSE he didn't like me. No guy would yell to a girl he likes that."

She crossed her arms, triumphant with her decision. "I will not allow myself to think about him anymore. For now, I've got to be capable of doing my OWN thing and I will not let him to get in my head… and in my dreams."

Kagome jumped up and nodded her head. "Right!" She fist-pumped the air. "Mission Number One: Attend a Karate class!"

_Hang on a moment… speaking of class…_ Kagome grabbed her alarm clock. "Oh no!" she cried. "I'm late for school and it's 10:30AM! Oh no!" She hurriedly changed out her pajamas (her mother must have changed her clothes while she was blacked-out) and into her extra school uniform, since she couldn't find where yesterday's was. Maybe in the wash? It HAD been a while since she'd returned home and all, so she couldn't exactly CLEAN her clothes unless she had changed into others while waiting for it to dry.

She pulled on some clean white socks and combed her messy hair, making it nice and smooth.

Grabbing her book-bag, she rushed down the stairs. "Mom? Grandpa? Sota?" she called out. "Why didn't any of you wake me up?"

She walked around, looking around for a light breakfast. Her eyes looked around the pantry and then at the fridge door, her eyes glancing over the Fridge calendar, showing the date as "Saturday, April. 6th".

She opened the fridge and then blinked, closing the fridge door and rubbing her eyes to see if she read it right. It _wasn't_ a school day today?

Kagome sighed in relief and annoyance. _I could've slept in!_ She thought to herself. She laughed, though, but it wasn't her usual cheery laugh. Something was missing; she just couldn't tell what. It sounded melancholy.

Frowning, she shook her head, thinking she just misheard it, and walked around the house, cupping her hands over her mouth calling, "Mom? Sota? Grandpa?" She checked their rooms. "Hello? Anyone home?"

She placed her hands on her hips and huffed. "If they were gone, they should've just left a no-" Her eyes fell on a note that was on the dining table.

She sighed. "I _just_ missed it while walking to the kitchen." She mumbled.

Her eyes scanned the page. It read:

_Dear Kagome,_

_We are very sorry that we cannot be here to comfort you when you wake up but I'm sure you'll have lots to tell us (that is, if you're alright to) when you wake up._

_Sota, Grandpa, and I are at the hospital right now. Sota's friend, Shinji, got into a TERRIBLE car accident and is currently in a coma-like state, as we heard as we got a frantic phone-call from his mother._

_Of course, we must be there for Sota, hoping and praying that Shinji makes it out of this alive. _

_Please pray as well? Your brother would deeply appreciate it._

_If you want to visit, you are more than welcome to, but we all understand that you were crying terribly yesterday and would need some time to recover._

_If this has anything to do with Inuyasha (and I have a good feeling it does), don't let it get to you, sweetie! You two will make up in no time._

_Well, I've got to go now- Sota is honking the horn! I guess I've been writing for too long. _

_Sorry we left with such late notice, dear, but we will be back as soon as dinner rolls around. _

_There are some left-over rolls in the fridge and plenty of eggs if you wanted to make those delicious egg omelets that you so lovingly prepared that one time for Inuyasha._

_Alright, I really _do_ have to get going, but DON'T LET THE BAD THINGS GET YOU DOWN. You'll pull through, Kagome! We believe in you!_

_Love,_

_Your Mother._

Kagome, upon reading that note, put it down and closed her eyes for a soft prayer for Shinji to wake up and to be okay.

She didn't want to pray for anything else; she thought she'd be selfish if she started praying for hopes of better days for herself.

Sighing, she placed the note on the fridge with a ladybug magnet and cooked herself an egg omelet to eat.

While eating, she thought about what her mother had said about Inuyasha. Would they _really_ make up? It seemed quite impossible.

"Wait, what am I thinking?" she cried out, standing up from her chair. "I _told_ myself I'd stop thinking about him. He's out of my life right now." She pushed the thought away as she walked over to the mail cubby and picked up this morning's mail.

Browsing through the news as she ate at the table, her eyes fell on an ad that said, "Want to get stronger? Well, you CAN with CAN DO IT STUDIOS! For only $20.00 for a whopping whole month, you train everyday from karate to self-defense to dodging and it lasts for only an hour-and-a-half! Time slots are in details below and classes start APRIL. 6TH, 2012.

**Time Slots:**

**Saturday, April. 6th, 2012 - - - 11:00AM to 12:30PM **

**- - - 2:00PM to 3:30PM**

**- - - 6:30PM to 8:00PM**

**Sunday, April. 7th, 2012 - - - 10:30AM to 12:00PM**

**- - - 3:30PM to 5:00PM**

**- - - 7:00PM to 8:30PM**

The time slots continued down all the way up to May the 2nd… yes, it was a pretty big ad.

Kagome checked the clock. It was 10:53AM, but Kagome knew that she shouldn't hit the CAN DO IT STUDIOS on a full stomach. She decided to make the 2:00PM one.

Filled with new hope of becoming stronger, it seemed like yesterday was just a distant dream and she had only just woken up to this wonderful opportunity.


	3. Chapter Two: Almost

Lovely Stories April. 5th, 2012- 5:35PM to 6:31PM (but took break for dinner)

**Chapter Two: Almost**

[ Eh, yeah, pretty simple title :S Bleh I hope you like my second chapter anywhoos. ;)

THANK-YOU FOR THE SIX REVIEWS/COMMENTS! :') YOU ARE ALL AH-MAZING. I wish you could see the font that I'm typing in right now. I'm kinda obsessed with it. lol.

Okays ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!

Lovely Stories =]

Hello to my two new reviewers! You rock!

** NEWS FLASH**

Uh, hello :O :O :O A 7TH REVIEW? :O :O :O

YOU ARE JUST FAANTASTIC, HELLO TO MY 7TH REVIEWER AS WELL! :')

^ 6:33PM found out.

**** OH AND DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI. THEY RIGHTFULLY BELONG TO THE WONDERFUL RUMIKO TAKAHASHI. ** :) ]**

Kagome had come back at 3:30PM from the CANDOITStudios.

She was drenched in sweat and her hair mopped her brow as she dragged herself upstairs. She never realized how much effort and time and CRAZINESS it took to learn the ways of defending and karate.

She headed to take a cleansing shower as she grabbed her yellow towel and a bar of soap.

Walking in, she started the hot water as she took off her sweatband, her hair-tie that held her ponytail in, her black short shorts, and her gym sweater.

She reminded herself inwardly to never EVER wear that sweater again when training because she thought that she was going to _drown_ in her own sweat, which was a silly thought. No-one drowned in their own sweat.

After taking a nice hot shower, she dried herself off and got dressed into that blue sweater she adored and a little black skirt that went just above her knees. She placed some white clean socks on her little feet and sat on her nice comfy bed, un-sure of what to do.

She never realized _how_ often she had been at the Feudal Era; it had always just taken over her time and there was ALWAYS something to do.

She pondered to herself. _Wow_, she thought. _What life do I have out here, in my _own_ time?_

She bit her lip, and then fisted her open palm. _I know! I'll call up Yuki, Eri, and Ayumi. Maybe they're free today._

Thinking about that happy prospect, and not having seen her friends in ages, she grabbed the home telephone (Kagome didn't have a phone yet) and dialed up Eri, one of the more exuberant and talkative of the bunch.

The phone line dialed twice, and then Eri picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Eri! It's me, Kagome!"

"Kagome?"

* * *

><p>The four were sitting at Wacdonalds, and all but Kagome were eating a burger and a shake (Kagome didn't want to build up lots of calories and fat since she was in training).<p>

"So, Kagome! How've you been? We've missed you so much!" started Ayumi.

"Yeah!" chimed in Yuki. "How was your Blue Syndrome?"

"Uh… what?" Kagome blanked out.

"Yah know, the one your gramps told us about." said Eri, slurping her shake and taking a bite out of her hamburger. "The syndrome where your skin turns all blue and you freeze up and you have to be in a heated room for two weeks to get better?"

"Come to think of it, it kinda sounds like Hypothermia…" stated Ayumi, putting a finger to her chin and thinking.

"Oh, I'm MUCH better, thank-you," said Kagome with a fake smile on her face. She flapped her hand to say she was alright and that she'd like to change the conversation.

Behind her closed eyes, she thought to herself, _Oh man. Grandpa is really pulling it on thick _this_ time. Why can't he just give me NORMAL stuff, like the usual cold and a fever or the Chicken Pox or something? _She sighed, shaking her head. She'd need to have a talking with him once he and her mom and Sota came home tonight.

"Hey, how's your two-timing boyfriend?" asked Yuki quite sneakily, edging her on. "Is he being ruder than ever as you say he is?"

"Yeah! Although… that time that we met him, he was so kind and friendly, I don't see what bad there is in him…" said Ayumo.

Kagome looked down at the table and scrunched up her fingers into tight fists. Her bangs covered her eyes. "It's… it's over." She simply stated. She got out of her seat and grabbed her feather-weight jacket. "I'm gonna go now. Gotta make dinner for my family." She should've _known_ that this subject was gonna pop up. How could she not have thought of that? All she cared about was seeing her friends she hadn't seen in ages, that's what. She bit her lip and then looked up, putting on a fake cheery smile. "See yah guys later?" She made sure to ask in a hopeful tone.

Thankfully, her friends understood as they gave her grim faces and hugged her tight. "Sure. We understand." said Yuki. "We're really sorry we brought it up."

"Yeah," added Eri. "I'm really sad to hear that you two aren't together anymore."

"Well, now you and Hojo have a chance!" joked Aymui.

Eri nudged her hard in the ribs. "Don't mind her. You know how Ayumi is."

She gave her friend a pitying look as she hugged her again. "I really wish you the best, Kagome. Really."

Kagome nodded, feeling tears almost start to pour out.

Frantically, she gave them one last wave as she bolted out the door, running all the way home, with tear drops staining the pavement once again.

_I've got to let go of him!_ thought Kagome as she ran as fast as she possibly could. _I've got to… I've got to… _She slowed down to a walk, wiping her tears away.

She held her jacket tight as she noticed a sign on one of the bus stop signs. It read, "**INTERESTED IN BECOMING A BETTER RUNNER? JOIN THE LOCAL RUNNING TEAM TODAY, HOSTED BY AKI YURIMA of CANDOIT STUDIOS! IT DOESN'T COST MONEY TO RUN, ONLY A BRIGHT SMILE, RUNNING SHOES AND PROPER RUNNING-WEAR, AND A WHOLE LOT OF FAITH THAT YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT YOU "CANDOIT"**

**MEETS ARE AT 8:00AM SHARP ON SATURDAY MORNINGS TILL' 9:30AM. BREAKS AND RUNNING SNACKS + DRINKS INCLUDED. DONATIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED EVERY THREE WEEKS AND WHEN YOU JOIN (NOT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, THOUGH).**

**IF UNDER 16 YEARS OLD, PLEASE GET YOUR PARENTS TO WRITE A NOTE STATING THAT YOU ARE ALRIGHT TO RUN WITH POTENTIALLY OLDER PEOPLE.**

**WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE!**

**Contact info: Phone #- 0n-nnnn-nnnn and Email: ***************.**"

Kagome smiled small, but it wasn't a true smile. _I'll join this as well… oh, CANDOIT Studios… I love you so darn much. _

With that in mind, she now had a purpose to keep on walking. She'd become stronger, and before you knew it… she had almost forgotten Inuyasha on the way home.

_Almost_.

**(( For the phone number and E-mail, I got help from this site: ****.com/J_**

**Please lemme know if it needs correcting :S Thanks! **

**And eh… shorter chapter than Chapter 1 :/ It is only 1027 words :S**

**THANKS ONCE AGAIN FOR ALL THE REVIEWS + COMMENTS! :')**

**LOVELOVELOVE**

**- Lovely Stories =] ))**


	4. Chapter Three: Trying

Lovely Stories April. 5th, 2012. 11:16PM to I forget

[Hey, sorry for such a short chapter earlier but this one will be longer, don't worry Thanks for sticking with me! ;) I really do appreciate it.

Lovely Stories =]

P.S. THAAANK-YAAH for the Reviews/Comments :') I looove 'em!

and **** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA! ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASHI!** Thanks **

P.P.S. Yesh, I know that just a month and a half; close to two months is not gonna make you forget a person except for their faults. But let's just say for this story, alright? And same with the Purple Belt idea. You can't. But let's just imagine :-B

**OUFITS:**

For Kagome's movie date outfit, if you go on Google and search up "short-cropped sweater", you'll see somewhere on the first page (should be first row but might've moved) a picture where there is indeed what I had kinda in mind. I was aiming for a dress but changed my mind when I saw that picture. Just look at that and the Tank-Top had no lace. For the bottoms and shoes, it's pretty explainable ;)]

**Chapter Three: Trying**

Pretty soon, Kagome had pretty much signed up for ALL of the CANDOIT Studios courses (which even included an Archery Class and a Cooking Class for the Great Outdoors and the Warm Indoors) and was well-on her way to forgetting all about Inuyasha.

When she had come home from that day from reading about the Running Team, she had made a simple dinner made of rice, chicken, and green tea for her family.

Sota's eyes were red when he came home but when Kagome asked him how Shinji was, he replied, "Shinji's fine. I'm just crying because I'm happy that he's going to be fine. It'll take months for him to recover, though, so looks like he won't be coming back to school anytime soon." He sighed. "But I sure am glad to see that he's gonna be okay." He sniffled as Kagome hugged her brother and whispered, "Oh, Sota. That's great news. I'm very happy for you."

After that, Kagome's family made sure not to ask any questions about what happened last night. Her mom, especially, was only going to ask questions if Kagome brought up the subject first- and she did not.

Her mother knew, that deep down, her heart was mending itself and would need some time to heal over.

It had been a month and a half; almost two months since Kagome had visited the Feudal Era.

She longed to visit her friends and see how they were doing. Were they alright? How was Shippo dealing with her not being there? She missed him terribly out of all of her friends. After-all, she knew Shippo longer than she knew Miroku and Sango and Kirara, and she thought of Shippo as another little brother, a best friend of best friends.

Kagome had been visiting a Psychologist as well (but only for a few days, then she stopped to concentrate on Training) to get her mind off of Inuyasha the day after the Running Team reading.

Pretty soon, Kagome had forgotten who most of him was and only remembered those stinging words that _caused_ her to do all this. Why was she changing for him?

Well, maybe she just wanted to prove him wrong.

Kagome trained long and hard with solid effort every single time she arrived to class.

Her teacher, Kenji, always pushed her to keep on doing better than she did the last time she went, and each time she abided and listened to his comments and advice.

She went from being a person who was unable to defend herself and couldn't do much to a person who could defend, do Karate at a Purple Belt level, be able to shoot perfectly on target even if the target was moving, dodge easily (and jump a little bit higher with the CANDOIT Studios Ballet Course!), cook fresh open meals around the campfire or wherever, and run a long distance in a VERY short period of time and not get as tired as she so usually did back then. She would not need Inuyasha to carry her on her back.

Her personality was a little roughed around the edges, and she wondered if she'd bite the half-demon's head off when she came back… she quickly stopped thinking about him, shaking off the thought. Her mind flashed back to the night of Kikyo's death and she shook that ff too, quicker than ever. She was getting better at it. Shaking off that fateful night.

You could see that Kagome's exterior had toughened up; muscles now showed when she flexed (not big ones but she wasn't as feeble as she was before) and it also showed in her legs, too.

Her steps were nimble, though, and she was like an antelope galloping through the trees.

She smiled to herself, that same small smile that actually was NOT happy at all. Just sad. She hadn't laughed or smiled in a while, and that hadn't happened since that night.

She sighed. She wasn't emotionally involved with anything much anymore and didn't really show her feelings.

Kagome had really toughened up and changed herself over the past couple of months. She wondered if it was actually a good thing that she was doing this.

_Well, of _course_ it is!_ she thought to herself. _I'm becoming stronger. That's what I wanted, wasn't it?_ She bit her lip. "Of course it was," she mumbled.

All of a sudden the telephone rang. It was Hojo, wondering if she'd like to go on a date with him.

It was a friendly little ask-out, and Kagome almost smiled.

She was almost going to politely refuse until her thoughts wondered back to when Ayumi had said back in Wacdonalds, "Well, now you and Hojo have a chance!"

She knew Ayumi was just joking, but what if…?

Kagome would have to find out for herself.

She firmly said her answer into the phone after a good decent two minutes of thinking. "I would love to, Hojo."

Today's CANDOIT Session was for the Elderly seeking good physical health right now so she wouldn't be missing anything.

Plus, she wanted to see if she actually _returned_ Hojo's feelings that he had towards her.

After all, her name _was_ on his Family Scroll of Generations.

* * *

><p>"Uh, hey, Kagome," said Hojo, becoming a little bit shy as he put a hand behind his head. He was at the Higurashi's, picking Kagome up so they could walk to the movies. "You look really nice tonight."<p>

The two were heading to the movies together to catch a Romantic Comedy so Kagome figured she'd dress a little nice.

She wore a white tank-top, a blue-short cropped sweater, dark-blue skinny jeans, and a pair of Navy blue TOMS that kinda matched the colour of her sweater.

"Thanks, Hojo," blushed Kagome. "So do you." She added. Might as well lay on the flattery, why not?

Hojo wore his usual black shirt and pants and shoes, but his hair was slicked back. He looked the same in Kagome's eyes, but she didn't mind that. She just wanted to end off the night in a good note.

"Thanks," said Hojo, giving Kagome a big grin.

Kagome tried to match it but couldn't do it.

Thankfully, Hojo didn't notice and held out his arm. "Ready to go?"

Kagome nodded, grabbing her clutch purse that included money to go to a pay-phone, ticket-stubs for the bus, lip-chap, a mirror, and a few sugar candies. "Bye, Mom! I'll be back by 10:00PM at the latest!"

"Alright, hon! You have fun, now!" called back her mom.

"Bye, sis!" called out Sota after, with Grandpa right after him with a "Be careful, now!"

She nodded. "Sure thing! Bye!"

And with that, she left with Hojo to go off to their movie theatre date.

**[ Okay, this ended up by 1127.**

**The reason being is that I don't want to concentrate so much on the movie theatre date right now.**

**I am itching to get Kagome to the Feudal Era, so either the next chapter or Chapter Five will be Kagome returning- and learning Inuyasha's reaction to how strong she is now! ;)**

**OOH TOO EXCITED! :') ]**


	5. Chapter Four: False Hope and Temptation

Lovely Stories April. 6th, 2012. From 8:PM to 12:10AM? I think? Maybe.

[ Alrighty, I'm determined to make this chapter longer than the last one, soo if there is a wait there is a wait D: Even though I don't want there to be one, lol. I'm getting distracted and watching a movie and listening to music some other time and then I go into a music hunt, finding new music… eh, I'll stop here haha :-B

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!

Lovely Stories =]

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASHI! Thanks! ** ]**

**CHAPTER FOUR: False Hope and Temptation**

When Kagome had returned from her so-called date with Hojo, she had to admit, it was pretty good. Well, except for near-the ending. That was bad.

The whole movie idea was great. And the snacking as well after that. They watched a Romantic-Comedy (Hojo insisted she'd pick) and shared an extra-large popcorn and each had their own drink. After the movie, Hojo treated Kagome to eat at Wacdonalds but, of course, she didn't have any type of snack. She had politely refused and kept a conversation going with Hojo as he ate a cheeseburger and had an Orange Crush.

But what happened after was the bad part.

He had casually tried to take her hand while walking along the lamp-post lit up streets back to Kagome's house, but she had pretended that she was sick and sneezed into her hands. "Oh, excuse me," she sniffled lightly. "Sorry." She wiped her "boogers" on her jeans.

Hojo wasn't disgusted but he just nodded his head. "Thanks for the consideration of not getting me sick." He thought for a bit, his hands shoved in his pockets. "You've been well for a while, Kagome. I'm glad you're not missing so much school anymore." He smiled at her; a real, genuine smile.

Kagome thought it was cute but it wasn't the smile that made her heart skip a beat. There was only one person that could do that, and that person was the person she only remembered the faults of. She couldn't go down that road anymore.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah… I'm glad I'm not with the bug anymore." She grinned. "I love seeing you and all my friends."

Hojo smiled. "It's certainly nice to see you too."

They neared Kagome's door and pretty soon they were at her doorstep. One light was still on in the house; it was probably on so that Kagome would be able to see when she arrived at home (the members of Kagome's family were early sleepers) and she wouldn't be tripping over anything or something like that.

"I'd like to thank-you, Kagome, for going on a date with me." blushed Hojo. "I, uh, remember several times where you've just run off or you weren't able to make it due to a sickness or an emergency." He looked down at the floor, then her.

"I'm sorry about that, Hojo." said Kagome, and she truly meant it. "But tonight's date was really nice- thank-_you_ for inviting me to one in the first place. It was great to talk to you." she smiled evenly (still not a real smile).

Hojo nodded. "Same with me to you."

Kagome smiled and gave him a little wave. "Thank-you very much for the nice night, Hojo. G'night, and see you at school!" She made her way to the doorknob when Hojo grabbed her arm. He was blushing profusely. "Uh, Kagome?"

"Yeah, Hojo?" she turned to him, looking at him, curiously. _Please don't say what I think you're going to say, _she thought inwardly, hoping and praying that he would not say that dreaded sentence that she did _not_ want to hear from him. She did not want to ruin their friendship; and she truly, _truly_ did love talking to Hojo. But just as friends.

"I, uh…" he looked down at the ground and dropped her arm, making circles on the ground with his feet.

"Yes?" she prompted, cocking her head.

"… Kagome… Kagome, I… KAGOME I LIKE YOU A LOT!" he nearly shouted, his eyes shut and then bursting open to look at her reaction.

"Shh, shh!" whispered Kagome, putting a hand over his mouth and causing them to nearly fall to the ground. "People are _sleeping_!" she hissed, looking around to see if any lights turned on. She didn't hear anything, either, but she did hear a dog barking from a few blocks away.

She waited until the dog stopped barking until she lifted her hand from Hojo's open mouth.

"Sorry about that… well? So?" said Hojo, looking at her and taking her hand, now feeling quite brave and confident with his decision of telling her.

Kagome looked at the ground, then at him, biting her lip. _So much for me trying to like Hojo_! she thought. _I thought that I might've realized that I've actually liked him all along. I mean, he always brings me gifts and stuffs if I'm "sick", and he always gives me a bright smile everywhere I go. What reason would I have for _not _liking him?_

_That's because he's not the one you're not in love with!_ thought a tiny voice in her head.

_Oh, shut up. _she told it.

"Uh… Kagome?" said Hojo, waving a hand in-front of her far-away face.

Kagome blinked, back to the real world. "Yeah?"

"So… do you like me, too?" he asked. His voice sounded so pleading, yet quite confident in the hopes that she liked him, too.

Kagome felt so bad when she looked at him and blinked, once… twice… then a slow shake of the head.

She saw Hojo's face fall instantly. He looked like a sad little puppy, now, and it looked like all the life had drained out of him.

"But, Hojo!" she called out when he started to walk away. She felt so guilty that she HAD to say something to make him feel better, and make the night end off nicely. "That…" her voice faltered. "… that doesn't mean that there isn't _time_ for me to like you." She smiled small. "So don't worry."

Hojo's face lit-up instantly. "Wait… so that means that if I give you time to sort out your feelings, you might return them back to me?"

Kagome swallowed back the truth. She nodded.

Hojo ran up to her and hugged her tightly, taking her in. "Thank-you, Kagome. Really. I'll be right here, waiting for you, so don't you worry." He winked and gave her a little wave. "Take care and good-night, Kagome! It was really nice tonight!" He smiled big and walked off the platform of her house down to the long stairs, whistling lightly, now in higher spirits.

Kagome titled her head back and draped her hands over her face. _Oh… what have I done? I _know_ that I'll never return those same feelings back to him_. She bit her lip as she shook her head, disappointed in what she just did. As she opened the door and then locked it behind her, she knew that she did not want to ruin her friendship.

And sometimes you just needed friendships to get you through everything. Even it meant lying through your teeth to do so.

She sighed and ran up the stairs, brushing her teeth and using the washroom.

Before she left the washroom, she took a look at herself in the mirror.

Kagome's features had changed just a bit. She looked thinner than before, but not the type of thin where she looked anorexic. Kagome would _never_ turn down that road. How would she keep with her training if she did so? And school, for that matter?

No, she would _never._

Her eyes seemed a darker colour than the usual bluey-brown they were, so it looked like you were staring into the deepest pits of the deepest ocean.

There were no recent smile-lines etched into her skin, and she hated that.

She tried smiling into the mirror… but it looked _so_, so fake.

She "hmph'd" and turned away, heading back to her room and changing into her pajamas.

She lied flat on her bed, snuggling deep into her pink covers. What would she dream of tonight? That dreaded half-demon that had caused her to become changed?

She was sick and tired of waking up EVERY time at midnight or after, screaming out loud and causing her family to wake up (she could tell they were tired but worried of her) when she dreamt of those hated words and the half-demon turning into a full-demon and attacking her.

Even if Kagome WAS attacked by him, heck no, she would NOT allow it.

She'd punch him out and then book it back to her world… then she remembered that he could follow her home. She grunted at the thought.

She just wanted those nightmares to stop. She hated thinking about it… did she hate him? She didn't know for sure.

Sighing once more, she turned off the light and hid underneath the covers and placed her face in her pillow, so if she woke up screaming again, it'd be a little bit quieter and would not be as loud.

And as she drifted off to sleep, she had a thought… maybe she should go and visit; after-all she _did_ need to help her friends destroy Naraku. For Sango, her brother. To prevent him from tainting Kohaku's jewel shard; the one that kept him alive.

And for Miroku, so that his Wind Tunnel would not suck him up.

She didn't even think about the half-demon. It seemed that she had already forgotten his name.

Mumbling quietly in her sleep, she drifted off to another nightmare.

* * *

><p>Kagome ran off, running as fast as her now fast legs could carry her.<p>

Her running with the Running Team really was pulling off. She was even beating that half-demon. Or, well, full-demon at the moment.

She grimaced as she felt her leg graze a sharp thorn that dragged through her skin as she raced against the wind.

She could smell the blood in the air and knew that the demon would instantly pick it up if he lost her scent.

Looking all-around her, she bolted to a big, tall, tree and climbed up it as fast as she could.

As soon as she was on the eighth branch, she could see the brightly-lit red eyes of the demon that was hidden in the darkness of the trees, sniffing the air then finally catching her eyes.

Catching her breath, she climbed a little bit more until she was well-more than half-way up the tree.

The demon glared at her. He could easily climb up that tree, of course, but decided against it and walked away, leaving her in a confused silence. She was all ready to shoot her arrows and everything if he happened to climb up the tree.

But he didn't. Why didn't he try to kill her?

She spent the rest of the night up in that tree, pondering that question that, what seemed like months ago, would've been such a simple question for her to answer.

* * *

><p>Kagome woke up instantly at about 7:03AM, from a very confused dream she had had that night.<p>

Scratching her head, she got ready as she had school today and went to take a quick shower before she got changed into her usual school uniform.

When she had arrived downstairs at 8:00AM, her mother had already made her breakfast and her grandpa and Sota were drinking some tea and eating some fresh eggs.

"Hey Gramps, hey mom," yawned Kagome. "Hey, Sota." she added, ruffling her brothers hair as she grabbed some orange juice and poured it in a glass.

"It certainly seems that you got a peaceful sleep last night," noted Kagome's mother.

Kagome stiffened. "Really?"

Her mother nodded. "Now, eat your breakfast or you're going to be late!"

Kagome murmured, "Alright, thanks." as she made her way to sit with the two guys.

"Hey, sis?" asked Sota, finishing off his eggs.

"Yeah?" said Kagome, taking a bite of the warm, delicious eggs.

"How did your date with that Hojo guy go?"

Kagome stiffened again. "Alright." She suddenly had an itching need to run off to school now, to avoid the conversation. She quickly finished off her eggs and orange juice before Sota could ask any more questions.

"Thanks for breakfast, Mom." said Kagome as she kissed her mom on the cheek and waved to everyone. "I'm gonna go, now! Bye everyone!"

They waved goodbye as she put on her shoes and trusty backpack to the outside where it was shining bright.

Just as Kagome was about to head to the long stairs to leave the platform of her house, she noticed a slight wind crack open the doors of the shrine of the Bone-Eater's Well.

She thought that was odd; usually the wind didn't do that to the shrine door, but she guessed that the door was becoming really old and was starting to act up.

She sighed as she ran over and shut the door when the wind started to push her _into_ the shrine.

Her feet staggered to a stop as she hobbled down the stairs to peer down at the well.

_Geez_, she thought. _Is Kagura existing in this world, too? It seems like she's being pretty pushy right now._

She rubbed her head and looked down.

Her fingers lightly brushed the rotting wood of the old well.

Oh, how she longed to jump back in again… even if it was just for a moment. She just wanted to visit everyone again. The temptation was too hard to resist as she jumped in, her feet touching the purple and black mist that usually surrounded her when she went to the Feudal Era every time.

_Well, if I don't come back in about ten minutes, and if the school calls, I'm sure that they'll know that I went to the Feudal Era to visit Sango and the others, and Grandpa will make up another silly little sickness. And it wouldn't be hard to believe seeing as Hojo saw me "sneezing" last night._ She smiled triumphantly and before she knew it, she had made it to the Feudal Era.

She could smell the musky odour of the trees already, and the wind and trees whistled in the air above her, as if welcoming her home.

[ OKAYS, HOW'S THAT? :) SORRY FOR LEADING YOU OFF THERE, :S JUST HOLDING THE SUSPSENSE OF WHAT IS TO COME ;)

It is 2294 words, so DEFINITELY longer than the last chapter AND longer than the last two chapters by… forty words. lol.

Okie-dokie, sorry for not having it up on the 6th, but at least I got a longer chapter in and I am ABSOLUTELY DYING TO WRITE UP THE FIFTH CHAPTER BECAUSE KAGOME IS BACK IN THE FEUDAL ERA! WOOOOOO :')

But it is 12:13AM and I'm just a bit tired, plus, I hafta get up at 7:20AM today… but probs 8:00AM. Or 8:30AM. Got stuff ta do.

Uh… yeah.

I'll probably be typing up Chapter Five right after I post this up, but I don't think I'll have it all done in like the next half-an-hour. But I'll try, lol :-B

THANKS MAJORLY FOR THE NICE COMMENTS/REVIEWS! :') I REALLY DO APRPECIATE IT.

AND THANK-YOU SOO SOO MUCH FOR THE FAVOURITES. AND HECK, EVEN THE ALERTS! AND THE VIEWS! :O :O :O Holy cadoodles. I'm ah-mazed :O Even if it may not seem much to you, it IS much to me :-B

Okays, gonna go, catcha guys later in the NEXT chapter (where it all starts to get interesting!)! ;) ]


	6. Chapter Five: EventheWeak Can BeStrong

Lovely Stories =] April. 7th, 2012. 1:56AM to, uh, 10:00PM? :S NOT NON-STOP!

[ Hey!

Sorry for leaving you all in suspense. I didn't really mean to :-B

Now, onto the story!

Man man man… I'm tired… wonder how long I'll be up until… gotta leave early this morning, too! :O - all written early this morning. It is not 10:17PM as I am adding this little side note.

Lovely Stories =]

P.S. Thanks a TOON for the Reviews/Comments, Favourites, Alerts, Views, and whatever else there may be. Thank-you. Really. :]

P.P.S. Let's just** imagine**… her bow and arrow pouch including the arrows? fit in her bag :-B

P.P.S. I smiled soo much when I began writing Inuyasha's part… lol! :') Guess I'm a bit too excited! ;)

** **DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI. I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA** ** ]

**Chapter Five: Even the Weak Can Be Strong [Title Subject to Change]**

Kagome used the trusty vines that hung around the side of the well to climb herself up to the top of the well and with that, she hopped out.

It definitely was _not_ as difficult as it used to be; guess the training really did pay off. She would definitely hafta recommend it to her friends if they wanted to stay in shape and stay strong.

Kagome took the bow and arrows she always kept in her bag (the reason was because she had Archery at the CANDOIT Studios after-school on Monday's and Friday's and she didn't want to return home to grab them) and slung them over her shoulder, holding the bow firmly in her hand.

She looked around; she could see no living thing waiting to ambush her, or anybody just casually walking around.

Giving a sigh of relief, she walked out of the forest and headed off to Kaede's village, wondering if any one of her friends would be there.

Walking across the field of green meadow made her feel more and more at home and at ease when she saw local villagers pulling roots out of the ground and kids playing a game of Tag around one of the growing trees.

"I really did miss this place," muttered Kagome to herself. She felt the soft wind play with her hair and cheeks as she neared Kaede's house.

The local villagers recognized Kagome as she walked past them, and they gave her a nod of the head and a small smile- and so did she.

It felt like a millennium since she had been in the Feudal Era… but she had only been gone for two months.

Kagome started to run, anxious to see if anyone was there. She kinda doubted it; seeing as they couldn't always stay in one place if they wanted to see Naraku.

Not tired but breaths coming out fast, Kagome brushed past the doors of Kaede's house. "Hey, Kae-" she started but was soon engulfed in a big hug from Shippo as he clung onto her neck like she was his floatation-device that allowed to him to stay afloat.

"Kagome!" he squealed. "We thought we'd never see you again!"

"Indeed, Kagome," said Miroku, standing up from where he was sitting, a surprised look on his face. "It is certainly nice to see you again. You look…" he looked at her closely. "… a bit different. But maybe that's just me." he muttered to himself.

Kagome blushed. "Really? I missed you all."

Sango went over to Kagome and hugged her tight while Kirara made cat noises as if to say, "Welcome back!" and Kohaku gave Kagome a nice little "hello". It was good to see that Kohaku was alright. "Oh, I missed you, too. We _all_ did and wondered when you'd come back, after, y'know… that night." She looked at her friend's face after she pulled back. "You alright?"

Kagome nodded. "I'm fine, thank-you. How've you all been managing? And hello, Kaede," said Kagome, making sure not to forget the younger sister to Kikyo. She bowed a little.

"Hello, Kagome. Nice to see you're all… well." she hesitated before saying that, as if she was biting back something. "Would you like some stew?"

Kagome enjoyed Kaede's stew a lot, but politely refused. _Training_, she thought. _Maybe some other time._ "I'm fine, thanks." She turned back to the others.

"We've been great, Kagome! Just been missing you a lot!" Shippo chattered, moving over to Kagome's shoulder, just like old times. "We sure did miss your ninja snacks and talks!"

Kagome giggled. "Thanks, Shippo." She looked at the monk and demon-slayer. Both seemed quite well and heck, they even looked closer than before. "And how have _you_ two been doing?" she grinned half-heartedly.

Sango blushed. "We've been great, Kagome. As Shippo said, we've missed you."

Kagome thought that she'd start crying. They _all_ missed her? She smiled a bit. "Thank-you. I was thinking a lot about you guys back in my time."

"And were they good thoughts?" asked the monk, raising a brow with a cheeky smile plastered on his handsome face.

Kagome giggled. "Yes, they were." She turned to Kohaku. "It's good to see that you're doing alright, Kohaku! I can see that your jewel shard hasn't been tainted, so that's good. Keeping away from Naraku,, huh?"

Kohaku nodded. "I'm very ready to finish him off, though." Everyone laughed, and even Kaede gave a small smile as she wiped up the bowls from the stew that she had earlier prepared.

"Hey guys, are we just gonna be sittin' here all day or are we _finally_ gonna be moving on and finding Naraku? We haven't moved in like a month, and it's getting' on my nerv-" The half-demon stopped talking as he brushed his way through the door of Kaede's.

He stared at Kagome, his golden-eyes wide open and his dog-ears twitching, unable to believe what he was seeing. "Ka… Kagome?" he breathed, his eyes only trained on hers.

Kagome saw him and instantly all of her nightmares came pouring back, all up to the most recent one from last night.

He took a hesitant step forward.

Kagome shook her head, taking a step back. "No… please don't." she whispered, feeling her eyes start to water.

She cupped a hand to her mouth as she felt the tears start to come.

"Kagome, I… I'm-" he started.

Kagome shook her head rapidly. "I won't listen. Don't even try." she whispered. She was going to say his name but then realized that she had forgotten it.

_She had forgotten his name._ She smiled small at that fact and looked down at the ground. The tears stopping rolling down and she wiped them away from her sleeve.

"Uh, Kagome?" said Shippo, tugging at her shoulder. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Shippo. Don't even worry about it. It's just that…" she stared at the half-demon. "What's his name again?" she asked in an audible whisper. She could feel the anger but more-so, _surprise_ when she saw the half-demon's mouth drop out of the corner of her eye.

Shippo stared at her. "Really, Kagome? You forgot his name?" he was so surprised.

Kagome nodded. "Hurry and tell me! What is it?" This time she was talking as she usually did. "What's his name?"

"It's Inuyasha," said Inuyasha tartly before Shippo could respond. "My name is Inuyasha. You didn't… you don't remember?"

Before Kagome could respond, she could hear screams coming from outside. Everyone looked at each other (Kagome avoided Inuyasha's eyes) and pushed their way out the door, looking to see as to what was going on.

A giant purple demon that had the body of a snake but the head of a phoenix had come to rampage the innocent village.

Behind it, more demons followed suit, and some even breathed fire.

Kagome ran over to tell the villagers to run far behind her, so she could protect them. She felt like it was something she _needed_ to do.

"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" she heard Inuyasha yell out from somewhere in-front of her. He destroyed a green demon with the head of a chicken but it pretty much molded itself up again after three seconds of his demise.

Sango threw her Hiraikotsu, but, it had the same fate as Inuyasha's attack. The demon just reformed.

Miroku threw his Ancient Sutras (?) and it hit a red demon, but it ended up writhing in pain and destroyed several houses. Miroku did not want to leave the innocent village with it winding up with nothing. He also knew he couldn't use the Wind Tunnel to suck it up in-case he sucked up any of the running villagers, and he knew that Inuyasha couldn't use his Wind Scar because he might hurt some innocent people.

Kagome knew that as well, and knew that it was up to her.

With her new-found strength, Kagome shot arrow after arrow at the demons, and they dispersed right at her perfect aim.

Pretty soon she had a few more demons left to fight, and one of them was the fire-breather.

It had the body of a giant turtle, but its tail was that of a dragon's and so was its head.

It breathed fire and Kagome thought that she'd be a goner if she hadn't dodged in time.

She did a quick jump and when Inuyasha tried to save her (he thought that she couldn't handle herself, like old times), she purposely dodged him as well and found her way back to the demon.

With the demon being distracted, and being unsure of where to look after she had been moving so many times, the demon started to throw fire at random places, so the houses started to catch on fire.

Groaning, she ran over and tried distracting it towards past the open fields, onto an area where nobody ever went unless they were travellers.

The demon followed, just as Kagome predicted, but not as quickly as she thought it'd go.

It first breathed fire on a specific spot… a spot where a certain half-demon was standing, staring dumbstruck at how much courage and strength Kagome had received.

He didn't even notice the fire coming at him.

Hey, maybe it was a stupid decision because his robe of the fire-rat would protect him for the most part or just the spur of the moment; Kagome didn't know, but she bolted over to where Inuyasha was at lightning speed and yelled out, "You idiot!" and pushed him down to avoid the fire. Thankfully, only her hair was singed. "Idiot," she muttered again, getting up from him, brushing herself off. "Watch out next time and stop staring," she said angrily, shooting an arrow at the now annoying demon.

The demon disappeared as she had expected, but there were still more there. "Will they ever stop?" she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes. "One step closer and I'll shoot my arrow!" she pointed it one-by-one at each of the four remaining demons.

All of a sudden, a man with disgruntled features stepped out behind a big squat one and cackled horrendously. "What, are you a mortal?" he gave her a look of disgust. "I shall perish you before you destroy anymore of my precious demons!" he took a swig from a jug to hold water and fire blasted out of his mouth.

Kagome dodged his attack, ready to strike an arrow once more. "One step closer and I swear…" she shouted, pointing her arrow at him.

"Ha! You think a worthless mortal like _you_ could possibly overthrow me?" he laughed. "Think again!"

"But she's not alone!" said Inuyasha, stepping in-front of Inuyasha. "She's got me."

Kagome's arms slackened, but picked up again. "What do you even mean, Inuyasha?" The name sounded so foreign on her tongue.

"We're a team, remember?" he looked at her.

She laughed. "Pfft. As if! We were _never_ a team. As far as I'm concerned, you thought that I was _useless_!" She stared coldly at him. "So, no, it was only_ you_."

She turned back to the man but could still see Inuyasha's stunned face out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, go Kagome!" she heard Shippo say from on top of Sango's shoulder.

She looked above her and saw the rest of the gang on Kirara, watching what was happening below. "Shh! Shippo!" scolded Sango, covering Shippo's mouth.

"What?" said Shippo, his voice muffled.

"Not now. On your own time." she hissed. Miroku nodded firmly. "Now is not the time, Shippo." he said, setting his staff to the side.

Kohaku giggled; he thought the whole thing was just ridiculously funny.

The man took this as a time to strike Kagome as he came in close with his sword.

"Kagome!" gasped Inuyasha as he went to Kagome's side. He had recovered from his recent shock of words strung by Kagome.

"Get away from me," she spat, pushing him aside.

She grabbed the man's sword and swung it off to the side, coming in with a swift kick to the stomach and heavy punch to the nose.

She then grabbed both hands behind his back and pinned him down to the ground.

"Three, two, one…" she muttered, just like in Karate when the referee made sure that the guy was down and couldn't get back up. "… and… done."

She stepped back from the man and shot some more arrows and pretty soon the demons were all gone.

She then turned to take another look at the man but he was just bones, now.

"It seems as though he disappeared just like his demons… he was probably connected to them. No wonder he seemed so disgruntled when you killed them off." commented Miroku, hopping down from Kirara once she had lowered to the ground. The others hopped off as well.

He poked at the skeleton with his staff then muttered an Ancient Prayer. The skeleton disappeared into grains of dust, blowing away in the wind.

"Kagome… that was… incredible!" breathed Sango, coming up to her friend. "When did you learn to do all that… that fighting?"

Shippo kept on complimenting Kagome on how strong she had become as she gave her little friend a nice "thank-you"'.

She was breathing a little hard, but that was how it usually was in Karate. "That was called Karate. Really useful in fights and stuffs. I'm only a Purple Belt right now, which is like the third-highest rank, I think? Anyways, I've been training for a while now."

"It shows," said a soft voice.

Kagome turned around and saw Inuyasha staring at the ground.

"Kagome, I-I…" he started again. "I really am-"he tried choking out the next word and Kagome rolled her eyes. Typical Inuyasha. He never liked to admit that he was wrong. "-sor-"

All off a sudden a strong wind came from behind them; rapidly approaching them, closer and closer.

"Oh, that mangy wolf," growled Inuyasha, turning from Kagome. He planted himself right in-front of her and took out his Tetsusaiga, ready to use it. "Always coming in at the most inconvenient time…" he muttered under his breath.

Kagome heard him and something triggered in her brain. _… Koga?_ she thought. _As in… wow. I didn't think of him at _all_ when I was away. Not that I do, or anything._ She peeked out from behind Inuyasha, suddenly feeling all shy. She didn't know why, though. She never thought of Koga that way, but she thought that he _was_ pretty good looking. I mean, look at him!

She blushed quickly and composed her face before anyone could see.

Koga appeared out of his tornado(?) and waved a hand at them. "Yo," he said as if he hadn't a care in the world. "I thought I smelled Kagome's scent…" his eyes widened as he saw Kagome peeping out from behind Inuyasha. And was she… blushing?

His eyes were still wide as he pushed aside a growling Inuyasha but just bounced right back. "Kagome…" whispered Koga. "… you're here…" His arms were outstretched.

"You stay the heck away from her or I swear I'll rip you to shreds," growled Inuyasha, planting his sword right in-between the two. "Don't you dare."

Kagome couldn't help but notice how protective Inuyasha was being. Her eyes widened at this, but her heart didn't. It couldn't care much for Inuyasha anymore. Maybe some day, she'd be able to. Someday.

"Get out of the way, mutt." growled back Koga. "I wanna see my woman."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" he sniffed.

"Sure do. And she ain't _your _woman, for the umpteenth time. So just shut up and get out before I try something on you." He flounced his sword and Koga easily dodged nimbly with his feet and down to in-front of Kagome.

He clasped his rough, big hands around her small, tiny ones and Kagome swore that she could see this romantic setting over-washing them; the pink bubbles and everything. She usually saw that happen when Koga came around and she smiled nervously. "Kagome… how've you been? I've missed you. Last time I came around you weren't here. Heard that _someone_-" his eyes drifted off to a growling Inuyasha- "chased you outta town and back to your Era." He glared at Inuyasha coldly and pointed a finger at him, at-which Inuyasha froze. Kagome could see sweat-drops form on his forehead. "You ever do anything like that again and I swear, you will never see her again. That's because _I'm_ gonna finish you off today; here and now."

"Today's the day." grinned Inuyasha, giving him a cocky smile and brandishing his sword. He had quickly wiped away that painful face that had occurred when Koga said that he had chased Kagome "outta town". "And I think you mean that _I'm_ gonna finish you off today. There's no way in heck that I'm gonna let you beat me."

"Huh, let's see about that, shall we?" grinned back Koga, releasing Kagome's hands and running towards Inuyasha.

"WIND SCAR!" yelled out Inuyasha.

"Kagome! Hurry, up here!" called out Shippo, who had conveniently turned into his famous pink floatable.

"Thanks!" called back Kagome in relief. She quickly hopped up onto Shippo and they flew out of reach as the Wind Scar would've quickly discarded of Kagome if Shippo hadn't been there.

"You idiot!" yelled out Koga as he easily dodged the attack with a high jump. He landed back on the ground. "You nearly killed Kagome!" his fists curled up tightly. His eyes turned a dangerous dark colour and a red aura seemed to appear around him. "You'll pay for that."

Inuyasha blinked, not realizing what had happened. He looked around frantically, and then finally spotted Kagome up on Shippo.

She heard him sigh in relief.

"AUUUUGH!" yelled out Koga, aiming his foot at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha had just enough time to turn back from looking at Kagome to narrowly dodge his attack. He swung his sword directly at Koga but Koga easily dodged.

"Ha! You think you can defeat me? The only reason I'm here is for Kagome, so I can get rid of you, you mangy mutt. She can come back and live with me once I'm done with _you_. What's YOUR reason for always fighting me?" He crossed his arms.

At that point, Koga's trusty comrades (Ginta, Hakkaku, and the wolves) _finally _arrived, panting and out of breath. "Please… can we…" panted Ginta.

"… stop… here? I'm so tired!" finished Hakkaku.

The wolves nodded and barked in agreeance.

"Shut up!" shouted Koga. "I'm dealing with Inuyasha right now. Enough stalling, mutt. What reason do YOU have for always fighting me for Kagome? Do you have feelings for her or something?" he asked roughly.

It seemed like all the world had become silence. You could even hear a worm sliding on the ground.

Everyone held their breath, even the panting ones, to see what Inuyasha was going to say. All eyes were on him as he stared at the ground.

He looked at Koga, then at Kagome, then back at the ground.

He stared at the reflection of his sword and saw himself nod, ever so slowly.

[ :) Sorry I'm gonna hafta leave you guys at such an inconvenient spot D:

I've been working on this since 1:37AM this morning (nut not non-stop, of course) and I don't want to keep you guys waiting for another whole DAY so I figured I'd just put it up.

It is 3190 words. Pretty cool, eh? ;) lol I thought that I'd just go like up to 2257 but it ended up being, "Oh, I should write more, a very nice Reviewer/Commenter would like me to get more words in, so longer chapters… why not?".

… alright, I know that 3190 is NOT a lot, but I hafta finish homework and stuffs… and man oh man I have been so distracted by music lately :-B

Okay, I thought leaving you guys in a cliff-hanger would want you to read more? I dunno, does that work? :S Uhh I don't really want to leave my story in cliffhangers unless the next chapter is coming up RIGHT after it, and I know how it feels to go like, "OH MY GOSH I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT DON'T YOU DO THIS TO ME :'("… yeeeahs. But I'm tired and I wanna read some other FanFiction right now :-B DON'T WORRY I AM GOING TO BE TYPING UP CHAPTER. 6 SOON! HOPEFULLY TOMORROW BECAUSE MONDAY I THINK I WON'T BE PUTTING OR TYPING UP ANYTHING BECAUSE I HAVE SOME THINGS TO STUDY FOR - I'LL BE LETTING YOU KNOW IF I WILL NOT BE TYPING OR PUTTING ANYTHING UP IN ADVANCE YOU GUYS WILL KNOW WHEN I'LL BE BACK AND STUFFS.

… okay, I am still thinking of HOW everyone will react to this situation… particularly Kagome… maybe I should sleep on this… I mean, not on the STORY, on the idea- oh, never mind.

OKAYS CIAO FOR NOW! ;)

And thanks to the awesome Reviewers/Commenters! :] Thank-you for sticking with me in my first story on here! :]

Lovely Stories =]

P.S. If nothing comes in on tomorrow or Monday, I WILL PUT IT UP TUESDAY. OR THAT WEEK. D: Sucks, I know :'(

P.P.S. Fight scene? Ehh? D: Never really written one before… seems kinda meager (meagre?)… I made Kagome sound like she's Superwoman or something. lol. :-B

P.P.P.S. Was everyone introduced? :S That is, the people usually seen with Kagome? :S

P.P.P.P.S. I hope you're not thinking of anything "dirty" when Ginta and Hakkaku(?) arrive. :-B

**QUESTIONS:**

**SHOULD I INCLUDE SESSHOMARU IN HERE? I WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO AND I AM REALLY AIMING NOT TO RIGHT NOW.  
>YESH, SESSHOMARU IS INDEED A COOL DUDE THAT IS QUITE LAID-BACK WHEN ATTACKING BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIT HIM IN THIS. MAYBE IN TIME, NEAR THE END... <strong>okay I just answered my own question... cool...

**SHOULD THERE BE A CHAPTER WHERE IT IS MORE DIRECTED TOWARDS INYASHA'S POINT OF VIEW AND NOT SPECIFICALLY CENTERED ON KAGOME'S? :S**

Okay that's it. Thanks, guys :-B **I APPRECIATE THE INPUT AND COMMENTS! ;)**

Okay I'mma gonna go read now. Byebyebyeeeee! :]

**RANDOM QUOTE OF THE CHAPTER "I KNIT SWEATERS, 'YO!" - Taylor Swift **

**I'm looking for a song to fit this chapter... maybe I'll find one... eventually. **

**A memorable quote from this Chapter? **"Kagome couldn't help but notice how protective Inuyasha was being. Her eyes widened at this, but her heart didn't. It couldn't care much for Inuyasha anymore. Maybe some day, she'd be able to. Someday." **]**


	7. Chapter Six: I Take It Back

Lovely Stories April. 14th-15th, 2012. 8:02PM (8:13PM) to 8:55PM

(( I am TERRIBLY sorry for the lateness in getting up this next chapter, but this week has been soo soo busy. I am beat and tired after today's Music Workshop and I really wanna just go to bed but I said that I'd try getting it in this week April. 8th, I said that- and so I am. I hafta be loyal to you guys :-B (I probably wouldn't be able to write it tomorrow- I am studying)

However, once Exams start coming in, Chapters will be slower to put up. I apologize early for that.

Oh, and if you guys would kindly go and check back occasionally to see if I edited anything in the earlier chapters- that'd be great. I might've changed my mind on some things. I'll let yah know when, if I remember myself :-B

Wells, here's enough of my babbling- here's CHAPTER SIX of "The Way Things Once Were"! :)

Lovely Stories =]

P.S. Thank-you SO SO much for the kind and suggestive Reviews/Comments and Messages :) I really do appreciate it, so thank-you SOO much.

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) **))

**Chapter Six: I Take It Back**

Kagome's eyes widened and she gasped loudly.

No-one else noticed; everyone else was just as appalled as she was. She looked around at the others. All of their widened eyes were glued onto Inuyasha would was now beet red.

Koga was speechless for moment; but quickly composed himself into his usual cocky nature around Inuyasha. He crossed his arms. "Ha!" he spat on the rough ground. "Yeah, right. You're probably just saying this to make me feel so-"

"I'm sorry." Inuyasha whispered. No-one could hear him, though. Not even Koga, who had EXCELLENT hearing. Inuyasha looked up at Kagome, then Koga. "I guess… well…" Inuyasha bit his lip, and then shook his head. He looked back at his sword, then Kagome, then Koga incredulously. "Wait! What am I saying?" he stepped back and shook his head again. He did _not _want to tell Kagome right here and now that he had feelings for her; much less in-front of everybody else. _Especially _Koga. He had to quickly cover it up. But how?

To everyone else, Inuyasha had regained that hard look on his face, shading all emotion just like his brother, Sesshomaru. "I _don't_ have feelings for her. I just feel badly for her, though. Because I did something terrible to her."

Kagome's heart dropped. Whatever happened to him openly admitting his feelings?

That was _so_ Inuyasha. Just when she thought he was being _mature_ for once, he brought it down to a new low.

"Kagome?" Shippo looked up at Kagome. "You… you alright?"

"I'm fine, Shippo. Don't mind me." She could feel tears stinging her eyes, but she refused to cry. Not here, not now. Not _ever_.

She looked at Inuyasha. "You know what, Inuyasha? Forget me, why don't you already? I can't even look at you right now, you're despicable." Kagome said through gritted teeth. "I-I can't believe that… I actually believed you for a moment, there…" she shook her head. "… you know what? Never mind. Shippo, drop me off, please."

"But, Kagome!" Shippo protested.

"Shippo. Please."

Shippo sighed and dropped her off, popping back into his regular fox-demon form.

Kagome stormed up to Koga, with Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Shippo, and Kirara just watching it like it was some sort of a famous opera show.

She avoided looking at Inuyasha's face.

"Koga." she took one of his hands and could feel all eyes on her. "_Thank_-you. Thank-you for openly telling me about how you feel. I'm… I'm _glad _that you are always here to make me… loved." She choked out that last word… _love_.

She looked up at Koga's stunned face… and then he pulled her in for a swift hug. He rested his chin on the top of her head and breathed in her scent.

"Kagome…" he whispered. "… I will _always_ love. And whoever doesn't love you is just plain crazy, because you are the most beautiful and kind-hearted woman I have ever met." He pulled out of the hug and pushed away her bangs. He felt the urge to kiss her, but he wouldn't. Not right now.

Koga stared hardly back at Inuyasha and pointed a finger at him. "Don't think this is over, mutt. I'm only going away because I can see how much Kagome is hurting.

He turned away and waved a hand to Kagome. "See yah later, Kagome." He winked with a twinkle in his eye. "I'll miss you!"

And with that, he turned to his comrades. "C'mon! Let's go! We're moving and finding Naraku."

He whisked away in his hurricane as the others groaned and followed after him, waving back to Kagome. "Bye, Kagome! See you soon!" they called out before they ran off.

Kagome's back was still to Inuyasha; still in the same postion she was in when Koga had hugged her so softly… she never experienced such a warm hug in a very, very long time.

She missed it with such a big tug on her heart.

"Kagome?" called out Sango. She hopped off Kirara and ran towards her friend. "Are you… alright?" she asked, hesitantly, placing a light hand on her shoulder.

Kagome looked at the dead remnants lying around her as she felt even _more_ tears threaten to stream down her face. She blinked them away and composed a normal happy face; the normal Kagome face that her friends were very used to seeing. She turned around and gave Sango a big ol' smile. "I'm great, Sango. Thanks for worrying about me. I'm fine." She waved it off; not looking at Inuyasha and walking evenly back to Miroku, Kohaku, Kirara, and Shippo. "We should get going. We need to find Naraku, remember? To prevent him from attaining Kohaku's Jewel Shard." She looked back at Sango. "Let's go!"

"Hang on, Kagome…" started Inuyasha.

Kagome pretended not to hear her. "Which direction should we go?"

"Well, we were thinking of heading off North-East. Would… would that be alright?" said Miroku.

"Yeah! Why ask? If it's finding Naraku, we're going to find him no matter _what_ it takes." said Kagome firmly.

"Alright then." said Miroku. "Come on, Sango."

Sango nodded and hopped back up on Kirara, with Shippo right behind her.

They set off in the sky.

Inuyasha cautiously approached Kagome and bent down, so she could get on his back.

"… what are you even doing?" asked Kagome in disgust.

"Well, you usually get on my back so Kirara doesn't hafta carry so many people…"

Kagome turned her head away. "No." she said. "No… thank-you. I'd much rather run."

"But you won't be able to keep up-"

"How do you know how much I am capable of?" exploded Kagome. "I don't need-" she stopped herself abruptly. _Calm yourself, Kagome._ _He doesn't realize the damage he's done to you. Just drop it. _She gave him a fake smile. "I would really rather run, Inuyasha. I've trained for this while I was away. Just… just leave me alone, okay? I would really appreciate it. Thank-you." She turned away and started running, following Kirara's shadow as she bolted into the forest.

Inuyasha blinked. _Since when did _Kagome_, _Kagome_ out of all the people in the world become _fast_? And _strong_?_

Shaking off his immediate surprise, he ran after Kagome, making sure that she was under his protection. He didn't want to lose her; not here and not now while she currently was trying to resist him.

* * *

><p>The gang decided to stop in the somewhat-middle of the forest when the sun began to dip down behind the mountains for a much-needed break after Kagome had been running for a very, very long time.<p>

They sat down and made a campfire, everyone looking at Inuyasha and Kagome warily, not wanting to miss anything.

"Well then." Kagome stood up. "I'll go collect some food."

"I'll come with you, Kagome!" Shippo hopped up and landed on Kagome's shoulder.

Kagome gave him a small smile. "Sounds good, Shippo."

"Thanks, Kagome." said Sango in relief. She was quite hungry herself, and she was sure the others were, too as Kagome left with Shippo.

She was _also _sure that Inuyasha was hungry too, but he, in his nature, was MUCH too stubborn to admit that. And much too stubborn to admit his feelings for Kagome.

She couldn't believe that Inuyasha had openly said that he had feelings for her, but took it back almost in that second that he had said it. _I mean, what the heck is his problem?_ thought Sango angrily. _Even _Miroku_ doesn't act like that._

She sat there, fuming to herself while Miroku took to talking to Inuyasha.

Kohaku had ended up falling asleep while on the ride there, so he was peacefully slept, nuzzled into Kirara's soft fur.

"Inuyasha," said Miroku in his serious voice. "I really think that you should try making up with Kagome. After-all, you _were_ the one that caused her to leave for quite a while." He didn't mean to put such heavy guilt upon Inuyasha, but he couldn't help it. He had hoped when Kagome returned that everything would return back to normal, but to no avail.

Inuyasha spat on the ground, his tough attitude showing. He was blocking out all his emotions by putting on his tough attitude. He was hiding the inside of himself that yearned for Kagome; Miroku just knew it.

He kept his sword close to him as he looked hard at the ground. "No-can-do, Miroku. You heard her. She wants me to forget her." He turned his head to the side, hurt flashing in his golden eyes and his voice turned impossibly soft. "And it looks like she's falling in love with Koga… she _obviously_ wants someone that's open with their feelings." His voice turned hard. "So why should I try to make up with her?"

Miroku shook his head, obviously unsatisfied with Inuyasha's answer. "You're impossible, Inuyasha." he sighed. "Simply impossible."

Inuyasha crossed his arms tighter. "Whatever. I don't care. I _shouldn't_ care."

Miroku stared right at Inuyasha, forming a frown. "Inuyasha, usually the _guy_ makes up with the girl first; particularly if he did something wrong. And you _did_ do something wrong, and you know it. Don't try to deny it, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha got up and glared at Miroku. "Just…" he had yelled, but then his eyes soften. "… just don't mention what I did back then. I want to forget it."

He sat back down, now in his thinking-mode.

Miroku only sighed again, unfazed by Inuyasha's actions. He looked down at Sango, who was still silently fuming to herself, mumbling incoherent words.

He tilted his head back against the tree behind him, wondering if Inuyasha would _ever_ admit his feelings towards Kagome.

Pretty soon, Miroku had started to doze off as well, while Sango took to glaring at Inuyasha.

It was pretty much ten minutes later that Kagome had returned from collecting food with Shippo when she saw Inuyasha and Sango in a heated conversation.

"What is your problem, Sango?" barked Inuyasha, on his feet.

"Mine?" yelled Sango, standing up as well. Everyone else was now wide awake, looking at the two warily. "My problem is YOU, Inuyasha! Can't you see how much you hurt Kagome?" She turned her head to Kagome and so did Inuyasha.

Kagome smiled weakly. "What are you talking about? He didn't hurt me." she lied blatantly.

"See?" retorted Inuyasha. "I didn't hurt her." He crossed his arms.

"Fool! She's only _saying_ that because Kagome is a good person and doesn't want any drama!" cried out Sango.

"No, she isn't saying! She's being truthful!" but Inuyasha KNEW that Kagome was lying… he just wanted to believe it to be true. That he _didn't_ hurt her.

Before Sango could yell back, Kagome hurriedly stepped in. "I brought back a whole bunch of plants and berries… and I also caught three fish. Shippo caught two. So we can eat, alright?" she said quickly. She stepped between the two and started to stick the fish on sticks to sit on the fire.

Shippo held the plants and berries in his clothing, and dropped them onto a flat rock. "I helped pick these!" he said proudly.

"They look delicious, Shippo." smiled Miroku. "Thank-you _both_ for the delicious food tonight." He took a few berries and a piece of the fish to roast in the fire, and brought a fuming Sango back to calm her down. He started to whisper to her, Kagome not picking up on the conversation.

"Thanks, guys!" said Kohaku happily, eating a green-blue plant. "This tastes delicious."

"It was no problem at all, Kohaku." said Kagome. "But don't eat all those plants up. I'm planning to make some soup, along with the berries in it. It'll take about fifteen to twenty minutes, but it's worth the wait. Trust me." She gave him a light-hearted wink and brought out a pot (along with a number of bowls- she'd make sure to return everything later when she had the time) that she had scavenged from an abandoned little hut that stood near to where they had picked some food.

She had filled it up with water on the way coming back, so she didn't need to find a river to fill it up.

She then placed most of the plants and berries into the pot and held it above the fire for the water to boil.

"Wow, Kagome," noticed Sango after Miroku had successfully calmed her down. "When did you learn how to make outdoor soup? I'm sure it'll taste great, by the way."

Kagome smiled in thanks. "I went to a couple of classes. It taught me what type of food is good when you're completely tired out to when you're sick. It also taught me the type of poisonous plants that have built over our nation to now, the present, back in my time."

"I see." said Sango. She paused. "It's great to have you back with us Kagome."

Everyone nodded (except for Inuyasha) in agreement.

"Thank-you. That means a lot." she mumbled. She kept her eyes glued to the pot, avoiding Inuyasha's eyes at all costs.

Everyone ate the fish, with Kagome's being used for the soup. When they asked her why she wasn't eating, she had lied, saying, "I'm not hungry right now. But I think I'll have my soup."

She stirred it with her lunch spoon, making sure that it was filled with delicious nutrients and fish meat.

Sprinkling the soup with thyme, she gave it a final stir before taking it off the fire.

"It smells good, Kagome!" commented Shippo, jumping up on Kagome's shoulder.

"Thanks, Shippo. Would you do me a favour and hand out the bowls?"

Shippo nodded and unzipped Kagome's bag to reveal the clean green bowls that they had doused in the river.

He brought them out and lined them up, lifting up the first one for Kagome. "Thank-you." she said.

"You're welcome!" replied Shippo brightly.

She poured a nice helping of soup filled with the roots and fish and passed it to Shippo, who passed it to Miroku. "Thank-you, Kagome. Looks tasty." He licked his lips.

Kagome nodded, and the same pattern continued until all the bowls were filled. There was even one for Inuyasha, and Inuyasha was quite surprised that he had received a bowl.

"Thanks." he had murmured when Shippo gave him his bowl.

Shippo only shook his head at him, turning back to get his bowl to eat up.

Inuyasha smelled it and he blinked three times. _This smells… really good._ he thought in surprise. _I never knew that Kagome knew how to make soup._

He brought the steaming bowl to his lips and took a light sip. He brought it back in-front of his face and looked at it in admiration. _This is delicious!_

Pretty soon Inuyasha had downed his entire bowl, and so did all the others. They were looking back at the pot, anxiously hoping if there was more, but Kagome only made enough for all of them to have one bowl, and one bowl only.

"Thank-you for the lovely-tasting food, Kagome." said Miroku. Sango nodded, along with the others.

"Thanks." said Kagome, quite proud of herself. _I did a pretty good job, didn't I._ she thought. "We should probably all get to bed now."

They all nodded all got ready to go to bed.

Kagome normally had her sleeping bag with her when she went to the Feudal Era, but she didn't know that she'd be going anytime soon, so it wasn't in her bag.

She instead scooted up to the fire, instantly becoming warmed by the flames heat. The shadows danced off her face as she placed her hands in front.

She knew Inuyasha was staring at her, probably wanting to strike conversation, but Kagome wouldn't allow it.

So for the rest of the night, Inuyasha and Kagome sat in silence as everyone slept and snored, both wide awake so they wouldn't miss anything between their silent conversations.

(( That's the end of Chapter 6. Only 2658 words :/ SO, SO, SHORT. UGH.

Sucks, sucks, SUCKS!

But longer than Chapter Four.

Sorry again for the really late Chapter :/ I did not intend to push it all the way back to Sunday… but at-least I got it in this week!

But I am incredibly angry right now because of DUSTIN BROWN I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE HIM RIGHT NOW. I feel like punching something. Just GET OFF.

I don't want to start ranting right here, but if you wanna know how I feel about tonight's Hockey Game, April. 15th, 2012, message me.

Gonna go.

Bye.

- Lovely Stories =] ))

[ Songs listened to during typing + writing Chapter Six:

Flying High "Kagome's eyes widened…" and on

Calls Me Home "'Wait! What am I saying?'" and on

Love of the Common People "Kagome's heart dropped." and on

So Easy "'Kagome?' Shippo looked up…" and on

Yeah Yeah "'… you know what? Never mind.'" and on

Meredith and Derek's Theme Song :'( "She avoided…" and on

- didn't type with music "… at Inuyasha's face." and on (yeah, I ran into some tough typing stuff and for some reason this took me really long to type.

This City "… that you are always…" and on

Okay I'm gonna stop typing the songs now because it's distracting me. But I hope enjoyed some of my music taste, haha. No TS right now :/ Sucks, yeah? I'm just listening to some stuffs. ]


	8. Chapter Seven: I'm Okay By Myself

Lovely Stories =] April. 23rd, 2012 – 11:22PM.

To May. 7th, 2012 – 11:00PM.

[ I am very sorry for the lateness.

I am really busy these days and suuper-stressed out but I really want to finish this story… and it's not even close to being done; from what I want it to be right now. :/

Thanks for the Comments/Reviews! :) You guys are awesome.

Lovely Stories =]

P.S. Kagome's smiles are NOT real until I say they are. I'll put one reminder each until Kagome REALLY smiles, so when that happens, I will probably say, "She smiled a **real** smile" or something like that; real believable and easy to understand.

Same with the laughs. One reminder each.

P.P.S. Since Kagome disappeared for like three months, I just kinda made the rest of the characters freeze in-time until Kagome came back, so now the rest of these Chapters will be based on Episode 9 and on from the Final Act ** SPOILER ** (Kikyo died in Episode 8). **DONE SPOILER** and yesh, that DOES mean that I'll be moving Kohaku to Sesshomaru in my own way… eh… bah, I'll think of something.

Of course, I'll tweak a few things here and there. Don't say you weren't warned! ;)

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ** **]

**Chapter Seven: I'm Okay by Myself **

Early the next morning, Inuyasha awoke to the smell and sound of something wonderful crackling and sizzling in a unique little item that was round with a long silver handle coming out of it.

He opened his eyes wide and stared intently at it.

Kagome, on the other hand, was the one cooking the food in the _pan_, and she noticed Inuyasha staring at it like it was a foreign object. And of course, it was.

"It's a pan," she muttered to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha's ears flexed; wondering if he heard that right. _Was Kagome talking to him?_

He looked intently at her, now, and Kagome found it kind of disconcerting. She shuffled a bit to the side. "I'm cooking bacon. It'll be done in a good six minutes."

Inuyasha cocked his head and almost smiled, but quickly hid it. He couldn't believe that Kagome was talking to him! "… 'Bacon'?" he asked. "What in the world is that?"

"It's ham." she replied bluntly. She didn't even know _why_ she was talking to him.

"Oh." said Inuyasha. He sat there in his dog-like pose; two hands on the floor matted by his big and flowing Fire-Rat sleeves, and his feet planted on the floor just like a dog's hind-legs. He didn't know where to look. "Where did you get this 'Bacon'?" he asked, trying to strike a conversation. _I mean, it's not like she actually went and _killed_ a pig… right?_ he thought to himself.

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "I didn't _kill_ any defenseless animals, if that's what you mean." She tossed the bacon with skill (Inuyasha stared at it in admiration, then at her) and pushed it more to the middle.

Inuyasha sniffed the air. Smelled good.

"I got it back in my Era. Back when everyone fell asleep at like 3AM. I was still awake, so I ran back to my place to grab some stuff and left a note for my family to let them know where I was if they didn't already know. But I hadn't been back here in a while, so they might've called up the police or something…" her voice trailed off and she bit her lip, looking at the floor for a milli-second, then back to the bacon. "… you never know. Better to be safe than sorry." She paused. "So I grabbed this bacon, since you guys are probably hungry, and I brought back this pan and my own pot and kettle and returned the other one at like 4:00AM, which was when I got back. Oh, and I also grabbed some extra-condiments and a jacket and a T-shirt. And a pair of sunglasses and a cap." She almost smiled when she remembered Inuyasha wearing caps in her Era whenever he had to cover up his ears around the public eye. "And last but not least, I grabbed some extra treats for everybody." She turned to her backpack behind her. "Which explains why my back-pack is extra-large compared to last night."

"Wait, hold-up, hold-up…" Inuyasha held a hand in-front of his face and dropped it. "You _left? _At like 3AM in the morning to go back to your Era? How in the world did you manage to find your way out of this forest and back to your Era and back here in-time to cook breakfast? And same for the hut wherever the heck you found the pot? Weren't you scared?" he asked, the questions pouring out of his mouth like rapid-fire. "Why didn't you wake one of us to help you carry the stuff?"

Kagome glared at him. "I'm not a baby, you know. I can take care of myself, thank-you very much. I don't _need_ to be around you guys 24/7. Geez, get a grip." she said somewhat rudely. Once she said that, she immediately wanted to take it back when she saw Inuyasha's hurt face. _I should I _never_ said that,_ she thought to herself. _I don't know what came over me._

Wanting to avoid conversation, she flipped the bacon once more, turning back to it. The fire crackled and Kagome brought out her kettle, pouring hot water on it to douse the fire. The flames slowly died out as Kagome stomped on it to get the remaining sparks out.

Once that was done, she placed the pan on a smooth rock placed conveniently to the side of her; where she had placed the plants late last night while cooking the soup. "Can you please let everyone know that breakfast is ready? I'd appreciate the help." She mumbled to Inuyasha, refusing to say his name. "Thank-you."

Inuyasha looked at Kagome, feeling a tiny portion of his heart start to break. The tiniest-break. "Sure thing, Kagome." Her name rolled right off his tongue; it was like second-nature to him. He'd never tire of saying it. He was about to say something more; something to confront her, perhaps, but Shippo had yawned, cutting him off.

_Oh come on Shippo, really? Just when I was going to talk to Kagome for real?_ Inuyasha thought inwardly to himself, shaking his head, glaring daggers at the innocent Fox-Demon, unaware of him glaring at him.

Shippo yawned, stretched, and smacked his lips as Inuyasha went to wake the others.

Shippo opened his eyes sleepily and sniffed the air. "Something smells good, Kagome." he said, his voice drowsy. "Whazzit?" He rubbed his eyes, sitting up from the comfortable position of lying against Kirara since Kagome had put him there when she had left earlier that morning to grab some stuff.

Kagome gave him a (not-real) smile. "Thanks, Shippo. It's bacon. Basically ham. And it tastes really good." She took one out of the pan with the chopsticks she used to cook with. "Here yah go." she gave one to his outstretched hands.

"Thanks, Kagome!" he said, sniffing it, now wide awake. "It looks and-"- he took a bite- "- tastes _soo_ good! You should get more of this stuff!" In no-time at all, he had finished the bacon, licking the juices off of his small petit fingers.

Kagome smiled proudly. "I only added a bit of pepper, but thank-you. It means a lot. And maybe… I only grabbed this much."

When Shippo cocked his head, she told the same story she told Inuyasha about her returning to her Era to grab some stuff, including the bacon.

By this time, the others had woken up and had said "Good-morning" to everybody.

Kagome responded back with a fake bright-sun-shiny smile and she gave each of them a piece of bacon. "Hope you guys like it!"

"I sure did!" said Shippo raising his hand. "If you guys don't want it, I'll take it. Don't waste food!" he said cockily, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

"Oh, Shippo." laughed Kagome feebly. It didn't even _feel_ like a real laugh, for goodness sakes. She sighed, shaking her head, until she noticed two more pieces left.

One for her (if she wanted it, she _could_ have it) and one for Inuyasha.

Swallowing, she approached him leaning on the tree that he had slept against. "Here you go." she mumbled, holding out the piece of still-warm bacon with the chopsticks.

"Thanks." he muttered, taking the bacon graciously. "Looks great, Kagome."

Kagome nodded. "Thank-you." Then she walked away.

Inuyasha stared after her as she began to converse with the others, earning a few curious looks from Miroku and Sango.

He looked away, spitting at the ground, pretending he wasn't interested before biting into the bacon.

He nearly melted down to the floor it was so good.

He gobbled it all down greedily and understood why Shippo had wanted the other's bacon.

Once everyone was done their breakfast, they got ready to go and look for Naraku once more.

They decided to walk since Kagome had run all the way there and may have still been tired; she insisted that she wasn't but they didn't believe her.

Kagome walked in the front with Shippo on her shoulder, a little bit away from the others.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang started to have a conversation in hushed tones.

"Inuyasha?" asked Sango, hesitantly. She was walking with Miroku, with Kohaku behind them, holding Kirara. Inuyasha was walking in-front of them.

"What is it?" asked Inuyasha, not turning around. Sango had a vague feeling that his eyes were glued on Kagome.

"Umm…" Sango nudged Miroku, who cleared his throat. "Right. Inuyasha, we noticed this morning that you were awake before us. And we were just wondering… well-"

"We were just wondering if you had talked to Kagome." Sango butted in.

Inuyasha stopped in his tracks for a brief moment, then he began to walk just a little bit faster; losing a small portion of the gap between him and Kagome.

"What do you mean by 'talked'?" stalled Inuyasha.

"We mean, like… umm… you know… _talked_ talked." said Sango. She heard Kohaku giggle beside her and she nudged him to stop. He stopped but continued to smile.

"… what?"

"Oh come now my dear Sango, do you think he'll respond to you in that way?" whispered Miroku. Sango frowned and crossed her arms. "Let _me_ try. Perhaps I can get him to talk." Sango rolled her eyes but nodded.

Miroku gave her a trusting smile and strode up to Inuyasha with ease. All those months of running had really given him a good pace and a good stride. "What Sango _meant_ was if you had talked to Kagome yet… said 'Sorry' to her and, well, made up with her during the time we were asleep."

Inuyasha shifted his gaze from the ground up to the ground, his eyes softening.

He then looked away, turning his head to the left so he wouldn't see Kagome _or_ Miroku. But that was silly, because Inuyasha would never _not_ see Kagome. She was all-too-familiar with him.

"No." he mumbled. "We just talked about her bacon. And why would I have to make up with her? I shouldn't have to apologize for anything." He crossed his arms and immediately regretted saying that. He _knew _that he had to say "Sorry" to Kagome. He just wouldn't do it _now_. He'd know when.

"You jerk!" stormed up Sango, running right to the side of Inuyasha's face and slapping it. Her face was red and she breathed heavily. "Are you _seriously_ not going to apologize for the damage you caused Kagome?" she pointed a finger at him. "You are just a vile, rude, disgusting person and I am certainly most glad that I am _not_ in-love with you and that I'm in love with someone el-" her face reddened even more and she slapped a hand across her mouth.

Blushing profusely, she walked backwards down to the back of the line and walked behind them all, her expression filled with absolute embarrassment.

Miroku smiled smugly. "And I almost thought she'd confess, too." He looked back at Sango and then back and Inuyasha, whose face was still stinging from the slap.

_Man, that girl can slap a person's face_ hard_,_ he thought to himself, rubbing his cheek. At first he was shocked, but he didn't want to show it, so he covered it up a smirk. The words that Sango yelled at him still echoed in his head, but he ignored that. "Yeah, well, that's women for yah."

Miroku shook his head, smiling. "I'll go talk to Sango. Take this as your moment to talk to Kagome…" he looked ahead and his voice trailed off. "… where'd she go?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened and he looked ahead as well. Kagome _and_ Shippo had both disappeared!

Panicking, Inuyasha told Miroku to stay right there with the others until he found the two. His heart beat fast as he ran off, hoping and praying that Kagome wasn't in any sort of danger.

And Shippo, of course, too.

_Kagome_, he thought. _Don't you _dare_ be in any kind of trouble once I find you._

[ Parachutes- Paper Birds

^ Makes me wanna write + has a sense of lightness, happiness, a music-box, and imagination.

**Chapter Finished + Edited by me on: May. 7th, 2012.**

Sorry for the major long wait once again.

**When is Chapter 8 coming out?** I'm not making any promises. So I'm not setting a date. Whenever I have free time. Right now I'm pooped. And majorly stressed.

And I'm sorry for such a ridiculously short Chapter. Only 1996 words. Kind of silly to be that short. Hopefully the next one will be much longer.

Thanks,

Lovely Stories =]

P.S. I'm thinking of doing a Ranma ½ Story. I'm itching to do it. Same genre with the hurt and sadness with a little bit of love mixed in it… yeah. Maybe I shouldn't start it yet because I am nowhere near done this, but yeah… jut an idea. Lemme know what you think.

P.P.S. Sorry for not responding to messages! I'll do that… when I find the time. ]


	9. Chapter Eight: Found with Anger

Lovely Stories July. 4th, 2012

[ Hey everybody, Lovely Stories here.

That is, if you guys still remember me. :/

Wow. Not writing for two months?

That's inexcusable. If you're still hangin' around, I thank-you so so much.

I actually got off school last week of June, I think. So I had last week to begin again. But I didn't :( I APOLOGIZE!

I hope you enjoy this chapter. More chapters to be hopefully posted SOON. NO PROMISES, THOUGH.

Thank-you so much to **Glon Morski for giving me tips about Kagome's "smiles"** :] I appreciate it! It makes it much less awkward haha

Oh and on the bright side... I MADE A COVER FOR THIS STORY!

WOO SO CHECK THAT OUT! :') Took me like half-an-hour to make.

- Lovely Stories =]

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ** **

**** "The Way Things Once Were" Cover is done by ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE. THANK-YOU. :] **]

**Chapter Eight: Found with Anger**

Kagome and Shippo had actually been to the river when Inuyasha was a bit preoccupied talking to Sango and Miroku.

They weren't that far ahead of them, they had just been walking really fast and Kagome had been talking to Shippo about Inuyasha and what she had went through during the few months she had not been there in the Feudal Era. Shippo had listened attentively throughout, sitting perched upon Kagome's shoulder as Kagome babbled on.

The two had soon reached a river over on the left side of the forest, and them, being thirsty, went to go retrieve some water and fill up the water bottles and find some plants and fish that grew among the river. A rushing waterfall splayed as Kagome filled up the water and Shippo went to catch some fish.

"And you know, I was just so sad that I didn't come back," Kagome concluded as she screwed on the lid of the last waterbottle. It was filled with clean, fresh water. "And I'm really sorry for that, Shippo. I didn't mean for you to feel so alone when I left. I guess I wasn't really thinking rationally at the time. I only thought about myself, and that was really selfish of me. I'm sorry." Kagome apologized, sitting down on a rock as the waterbottles sat by the river.

Shippo hopped out of the water, successfully catching three fish (with much praise from Kagome). He placed them in a pouch that he constantly carried with him, a teal blue with white flecks on it. "Kagome, it's okay." assured Shippo. "I understand. _Inuyasha_ should be the one to apologize to you, that's what should happen. Don't worry about apologizing to me." grinned Shippo. "I'm fine. I _was _sad, but now that you're back, I'm happy again! Plus, your food tastes great." Shippo giggled.

"Aww, thanks Shippo." Kagome's smile was weak. "I appreciate it."

Shippo smiled and hopped into Kagome's lap.

Just when that happened, though, Inuyasha appeared, rustling through the trees.

His golden eyes were filled with relief as soon as he saw the two. _Thank-goodness Kagome's safe,_ thought Inuyasha. _And Shippo,_ he added as a sidethought.

But once after he produced those thoughts, his eyes turned angry. "And where the heck have _you_ two been?" he asked, his voice brimming with anger. "You _know_ you're not supposed to be going anywhere without telling us first. And I should always be with you guys anyways, because you two can't fend for yourselves." Inuyasha crossed his arms, a haughty look on his face as he approached them, standing right over them.

Kagome stood up and Shippo dropped to the floor. They both glared at Inuyasha. "Well _excuse_ me! I don't believe I asked for a babysitter, Mister! And Shippo and I were just fine all on our own!" Shippo nodded in agreement.

Inuyasha's face turned confused. "A 'babysitter'? What is that? A person that sits on babies?" He scratched his head.

"It's a person that looks after and guards the babies!" screeched Kagome. "Geez, Inuyasha! I'm getting fed up with you!" Kagome was letting just a little bit of her anger out. She poked at his chest. "We don't always need you to fend for us! As I'm sure that you can remember, I handled myself pretty well against those demons that other day!" she crossed her arms and huffed, her face red.

"She sure did!" piped up Shippo, crossing his arms as well.

"Shut up, Shippo," growled Inuyasha. "That was only once. Who's to say that you can do it again?" Inuyasha looked away, his arms still crossed.

"You know what? Forget it! I'm just going to leave this conversation as it is because _I_ don't want Shippo and the others to feel like they need to step in to resolve our fight! Okay? I'm just so sick and tired of you Inuyasha, always trying to start a fight. It's getting really old!" With a "UGH!" she stalked off back to the forest to find Sango and Miroku again, Shippo hopping up on her shoulder.

Inuyasha looked back at her, appalled, his mouth agape. "Ka… gome?" he breathed.

Blinking, he sat down on the rock, trying to think. "I've never seen her acting so crazy like that before… well, twice I have, when I broke her bike and when I kept on asking her if she was angry at me… but still! She didn't have to blow up at me! I was just asking her a simple question!" Inuyasha's hands formed fists as he plopped his elbows on his knees and rested his hands on his cheeks.

His eyes wandered from the floor to the waterbottles and her yellow bag beside the rock.

Sighing, he realized that Kagome had forgotten about them during their fight and had left them. He picked up the backpack and placed the three full waterbottles inside, zipping up the bag. He was proud to zip up the bag, he had learned how to operate it before Kagome had left for those couple of months.

Inuyasha cringed just thinking about those months again. How lost and sad and lonely he had felt. Without Kagome, he was nothing.

Shaking his head, he hurried after Kagome and Shippo and trailed after them from a distance, making sure that they were fine. He could pick up sounds of Kagome breathing heavily, talking to Shippo about how "aggravated" she was about him.

He didn't know the meaning of "aggravated" but he figured it wasn't good due to the tone of her voice, and he felt his ears droop a little to the thought of it.

He would have to be nicer to her in order to make nice with her.

And, maybe, just maybe, he would finally apologize to her.

But not just yet.

**[ Chapter Finished + Edited by me on: **7:02PM, July. 4th, 2012.

I hope you Americans have a good Fourth of July :-B

I had Canada Day on the 1st of July… I was pissed off that day, and annoyed, and sad… my parents didn't let me do ANYTHING to celebrate. So much for patriotism. :'( I hope your guy's Canada Day was much better than mine.

Again, sorry for the two month delay! :( I really am sorry. I realized I hadn't typed a chapter in forever so I apologize.

968 words. Can you say C-R-A-P-P-Y ? ]


	10. Chapter Nine: Trying to Pull Information

Lovely Stories July. 5th, 2012. 2:55PM.

[ Hello, everybody! :) Lovely Stories here.

Hope you enjoy this Chapter.

Lovely Stories =]

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ** **

**** "The Way Things Once Were" Cover is done by ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE. THANK-YOU. :] **

P.S. Do As Infinity by Rakuen makes me almost cry. :'( ZE VIOLINS!

P.P.S. Even though time has passed, a couple of months, do you think Ishould continue on a write about Episode 9 of the Final Act of Inuyasha? Lemme know. Thanks. :]I could, as another option, skip like three or four episodes and then go on from there. At the moment I am still thinking about how to write Episode 9, if you guys wanted me to do it.

For now, I am just moving this chapter slowly along until we come to a Conclusion :) Thanks! :) ]

**Chapter Nine: Trying to Pull Information**

"Kagome! Shippo! There you two are!" said Sango, getting up with Miroku. Kohaku stood up as well, picking up small Kirara. "Where were you guys?"

Kagome gave her a little smile. "We were at the river way over there." She turned and pointed towards the far left of the forest and saw Inuyasha coming up right when she pointed. Her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed, turning her head back to face the two. "Getting fish and water." She closed her eyes for a tad bit and then opened them again, forcing a fake smile. "Sorry to have worried you guys. We didn't realize we had gone so far." She added sheepishly.

"No no, it's alright." said Miroku, waving it off. "If Inuyasha came after you, we _knew_ that you'd be alrig- OOF!" Miroku got nudged heavily in the stomach by Sango. "Ow," he mumbled, rubbing his stomach.

"Anyways, we should start going. Are you two ready to go?" smiled Sango, after she'd given Miroku a warning glare.

Kagome and Shippo nodded just as Inuyasha arrived, carrying Kagome's backpack. "Hey, guys…" he said with his voice somewhat far away, scratching his head. "… found 'em."

"Hmph," said Kagome, turning her head off to the side as Inuyasha approached her side.

Inuyasha cleared his throat. "Uh, you, umm… forgotyourbag." He said really fast, handing it to her in his tight grip, it looked like his veins were gonna pop.

Kagome took it just as quickly. "Thank-you." She murmured, slipping it onto her back.

Sango and Miroku exchanged glances. It seemed that Inuyasha was looking a little bit shocked, and Kagome was looking be_yond _pissed. Like, if Inuyasha did anything else to tick her off, he would probably be "sat" a hundred million times until Inuyasha reached the very thickest and deepest parts of the dirt in the grass, his face red and splotchy with dirt.

"Well… let's go now, shall we?" suggested Miroku, nervously.

He started to lead the way.

"Come on, Kohaku." said Sango, taking her little brother's hand. "Kagome, would you like to talk?" she asked, off-handedly.

"I'm okay. Thank-you, Sango." Kagome walked behind Sango, with Inuyasha following along behind Kagome.

This was going to be a long day, they could all tell.

* * *

><p>Kagome's head was brimming with angry thoughts and a beginning of a very, <em>very <em>bad mood. _Inuyasha thinks he hasn't seen one of my bad moods yet? Well, he'll be _quite _surprised when he's up for a rude awakening. _Kagome thought. _I'll teach him that I don't need him to fend for me. I'm not a baby, for goodness sakes, I'm seventeen years old _(( Alright. I'm just gonna state this here. I'm gonna call Kagome seventeen because years have _bound_ to pass since she met Inuyasha. She started out fifteen, I'm making her seventeen now. Thank-you. :) ))_. My word. _

Her mind kept on fuming as Inuyasha lingered behind her, his ears trying to pick up anything if she happened to be mumbling anything.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Inuyasha didn't hear anything come out of her lips as she walked steadily with Shippo on her right shoulder. Inuyasha thought that maybe he could get something out of Shippo, so he plucked him right off of Kagome which earned him a loud "Hey!" and a "Watch what you're doing!" from both Kagome and Shippo.

"Just calm down, I wanna talk to Shippo for a second." stated Inuyasha quickly, his hands moving in a waving motion as he held Shippo from the bottom of his shirt so he was upside down.

Kagome glared at him and softened her eyes at Shippo, something that Inuyasha longed to feel so much by her. She then walked briskly up to join Sango, Kirara, and Kohaku as Inuyasha held Shippo by the back.

"Alright, are you gonna tell me or not?" asked Inuyasha in hushed tones so no-one else could hear.

"Tell you what?" asked Shippo loudly, crossing his arms. "Let me go!" he yelled, causing the others to look back.

"Nothing to see here," said Inuyasha nervously. "Just go back to whatever you were doing." He turned back to Shippo. "You'd better keep your voice quiet, otherwise I'm gonna give you a bump on the head SO hard that you're not gonna have any feeling in your head for a week."

Shippo gulped. "Go on." He sniffed, his voice now quiet.

Inuyasha grinned. "Is Kagome pissed off at me or what?" he asked, getting right down to business, his smile gone.

Shippo laughed. "Ha! Did you seriously just ask me that? Isn't it obvious?" he cackled. "Of _course_ she's mad at you. I can almost guarantee that she wants to pulverize you." Shippo grinned smugly.

"Shut up!" Inuyasha batted him on the head.

"He-" Inuyasha quickly muffled his tone. "Sorry," he whispered. "I forgot."

Shippo's teal eyes narrowed. "Anyways… Kagome was telling me all about when she had left."

Inuyasha's heart almost stopped. "… and?" he breathed, prompting Shippo.

"I don't think she'd want me to tell." Shippo once again gave Inuyasha a smug smile.

"Shippo, you'd better tell me or I'll-" He was stopped abruptly by Kagome calling out to Shippo that he dropped him. "Shippo, can I talk to you for a moment?" asked Kagome, turning her head and stopping.

"Sure thing, Kagome!" chirped Shippo. With a final smug smile towards Inuyasha, he hopped over to Kagome's shoulder and they instantly began a very hushed conversation.

Inuyasha grumbled along the way, his arms crossed, trying to hear the conversation but not picking up any of it, just bits that involved "What a jerk", "So angry", and "What did you tell him?".

Sighing to himself in frustration, he continued to follow alongside the others, trying to figure out what to do.

[ 931 Words.

Finished + Completed on: July. 5th, 2012. 3:53PM.

Thanks! :] Shorter Chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it :) Thanks, guys! :)

Thanks for the kind and fast reviews, I really do appreciate it, and thanks for keeping me going, guys! :)

Lovely Stories =] ]


	11. Chapter Ten: An Ominous Presence

Lovely Stories =] July. 19th, 2o12

[ Hey everyone, this is another Chapter of "The Way Things Once Were".

Thanks for all your input and suggestions, I really appreciate it! :) Same with the Comments! :)

Lovely Stories =]

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ** **

**** "The Way Things Once Were" Cover is done by ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE. THANK-YOU. :]** ]

**Chapter Ten: An Ominous Presence **

As the gang finally approached a clearing, Miroku spotted a village not far down from the hill they were walking upon.

"Why don't we go check out that village over there?" he asked the others, pointing his index finger towards the small village. "I sense an ominous presence overlooking the rooftops."

Sango rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, right." She crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Every single time we go to a village, it's because you want to stay the night in the richest house and go _womanizing_." said Inuyasha, closing his eyes and crossing his arms behind his head. "It's so typical."

"Now now," said Miroku nervously, flapping his hand at that comment.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt to go down to the village." said Kagome, stepping in with Shippo on her shoulder. "I mean, you never know, Miroku has surprised us once before when there actually _was_ an ominous presence, remember?" She looked at everyone but Inuyasha and Kohaku (Kohaku wasn't there at the time), looking at their faces.

"See?" said Miroku, rushing over to Kagome in relief and putting an arm around her. "Kagome would like to go to the village too."

Sango sighed. "Alright. I guess it wouldn't hurt." Miroku grinned and clapped his hands together positively. "BUT…" said Sango, walking over to Miroku and pointing a finger at his chest. "… _no womanizing_, alright?"

"Yes, of course, my dear Sango," said Miroku, closing his eyes and rubbing a hand behind his head.

Sango only rolled her eyes. She knew the monk couldn't resist, but it was worth a try, anyways.

"Well, then what are you guys waiting for? Let's go. The sooner we go the village, then the quicker we'll leave, then the faster we'll find all the jewel shards." Inuyasha brushed past Kagome and walked on ahead, with the rest following after.

Kagome still couldn't help it when he had brushed past her arm; it was tingling with a sort of happiness.

She had missed the touch of his Fire-Rat cloth.

* * *

><p>When Inuyasha and the others had set foot in the village, immediately a crowd of kids wearing patched clothing and dirty bare feet surrounded them.<p>

Apparently they didn't have very many visitors, so this was a very big treat for them.

"Ooh! Doggy ears!" A happy boy cried out, wanting to tug on his ears as he gripped Inuyasha's kimono.

"Hey! Don't touch that!" cried Inuyasha, trying to bat away the boy, but his grip was firm.

"Me next, me next!" cried out several other chlidren, trying to form a line to touch Inuyasha's ears.

"What a handsome monk!" Several young girls gushed, blushing and hiding their smiles with their fisted hands.

"Why, thank-you." smiled the monk, giving them a flirty smile as he adjusted his robe. The girls sighed in unison, batting their eyes lashes at him, many of them trying to catch his eye.

"What a cool boomerang!" commented one of the boys towards Sango. "What is it made of?"

"Oh, thanks." Sango smiled nervously at the little crowd of bright-eyed people looking up at her and trying to sneak a glance at the boomerang. "It's, umm, made from a demon." She gave them a small smile. It wasn't all the time that little children were interested in her weapons, much less children that weren't demon slayers.

"That little cat is so cute!" cried out one of the little girls, with her dark hair cut short with bangs. She laughed as Kirara "mew"'d at her, batting her two fluffy tails.

"This is Kirara. You can hold her, if you'd like." Sango lifted her off her shoulder and placed her in the little girls' outstretched hands. "She's a demon, but she's very friendly and won't bite."

The little girl was at first startled when she heard Kirara was a demon, but then Kirara licked her cheek and she giggled, petting her soft fur. Some other kids crowded around her, complimenting and petting her on how cute she was.

"What strange clothes you wear!" said a ten-year old girl wearing a blue article of clothing upon her slim body. She wore a short ponytail in her hair. She poked at Kagome's clothes. "Where are you from?" Others crowded around her, wanting to know.

"Umm, I'm from Tokyo? You don't know where that is, do you." She said that more as a statement because the first time she had arrived here, Kaede had not known what "To-key-o" was and she was surprised. Now since she had heard that, she wasn't surprised at all when the children shook their heads, still staring in awe at her clothes.

"Cool weapon!" said a young boy to Kohaku. He had a bowl cut and his hair was dark. He was a considerably two heads shorter than Kohaku.

"Thanks," mumbled Kohaku, feeling very shy. He wasn't really used to people communicating with him.

Others crowded around him as well, asking him many questions that he felt very flustered.

"Oh, you're so cute!" squealed many girls towards Shippo, kneeling down to his height and stroking his head. "I could just keep you forever!"

Shippo felt himself blushing from head to toe. "Oh…" he breathed, overwhelmed by all this attention. "… thank-you."

Since everyone was having individual attention, no-one noticed someone was standing a good distance from them until he had shot an arrow over their heads, missing Inuyasha's by a mere millimetre.

Startled, the gang and the children all looked up. They saw a tall, moustached-stern man sitting upon a horse with a tall blue Fez on his head and wearing considerably better clothes than those of the children and the other villages. He must've been the headman of the village. By his sides and behind him sat more men on horses, wearing the same clothing as the villagers, but they must have been the stronger men; otherwise, they would not have been in the same company as the headman.

He carried the bow and arrow in his lean hands, ready to strike again. "Halt!" he shouted, "Or we shall strike!" The other men readied their swords.

"Father!" shouted one of the children. He was one of the ones that was admiring Sango's weapon and also one that was wanting to pull on Inuyasha's ears. "Stop! What are you doing?"

"Akihiko! What are you doing? Get back here!" shouted his father angrily.

"No! Why should I?" shouted back the little boy. His eyes were dark, like his father's.

"That man is a demon!" shouted the headman. He seemed to like to shout. "The impudence! How _dare_ you step foot in my village?" The other children stepped back fearfully, running back to their parents and screaming, their eyes fearful. Akihiko stayed put, his arms crossed. "Strike him now!"

"Wait just a moment!" bellowed Miroku.

The men stopped. "Headman?"

The Headman's eyes narrowed. "A monk? But why are you travelling in the hands of a demon?"

"Forgive us, we mean no harm." replied Miroku calmly. "Inuyasha is no threat to any of you."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" snapped Inuyasha, getting angry.

"Shh, Inuyasha!" said Shippo, trying to quiet him.

Miroku ignored him. "However, we were approaching your village when I noticed a strange, dark, ominous presence overlooking your village. I believe there is a demon in your midst. I mean _another_ demon, not Inuyasha. Best be on your guard. I wish to exorcise it." he said firmly.

The Headman looked hard at him, then at then at Inuyasha and the others. "Can you _prove_ that that demon is not going to harm us?" he questioned, pointing a lean finger at him.

Miroku looked back at Inuyasha, who was glaring at him, then the Headman. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean…" his eyes narrowed. "Is he willing to give up that sword of his? Who knows if he's going to strike us in the middle of the night, seeking our blood? We have women and children to protect in this village, you know." His eyes fell upon Inuyasha's sword, which Inuyasha grabbed the hilt of instinctively, growling and glaring at the Headman deeply.

The Headman was crazy if he thought that he would give up his sword _that_ easily.

[ Alrighty! I feel quite satisfied with this Chapter.

I hope you guys like it! :)

**1373 WORDS OH YEAH!**

:') At last, I've reached the 1000 mark (I haven't in a while for this story… right?)!

WOOO-HOOO !

Okays Ciao for now! ;)

See you all in the next Chapter! :)

Thanks for reading! :)

Lovely Stories =]

* Edited by Lovely Stories =] ]


	12. Chapter Eleven: No

Lovely Stories =] Aug. 3rd, 2012

[Hey guys! :) I apologize for the Cliff-Hanger- don't like 'em either.

But I felt like the Chapter needed to stop there. :-B

Thanks for reading and enjoy this Chapter!: ) Hope your guy's Summer is going by enjoyably! :)

and btw to a certain SOMEONE WHO IS READING THIS, HELLO AND ARE YOU GOING TO CONTINUE READING THIS UNTIL IT'S OVER?

Thanks, guys! :)

Lovely Stories =]

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ****

**** "The Way Things Once Were" Cover is done by ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE. THANK-YOU. :] **]

**Chapter Eleven: No**

"Hey, could you guys calm down?" stepped in Kagome, hurriedly rushing in-front of the Monk and Inuyasha and waving her hands in a brushing-away gesture. "We're not here to cause any trouble. Miroku just wants to exorcise a demon here and this guy," she pointed to Inuyasha, purposely not saying his name, "is of no threat to you. And if he does any harm I have something to hold against him so don't worry, okay?" She looked at the Headman's face, his expression unreadable. She took a breath. "And please don't take away his sword. Okay? Please? He… he just needs it." she sighed. She didn't want to go over if Inuyasha happened to go into battle and he didn't have his sword with him, he would turn full-demon.

"Okay, Kagome, can you just shut up?" said Inuyasha, glaring at her and walking past her. Whatever feelings he had earlier in the day towards her vanished.

She had almost given away him going out of control if he didn't have his Tetseiga with him _and_ that she had power over him which he did not like to admit but unfortunately, was true. For that, he was angry. His emotions were mixed.

He approached the Headman without a trace of fear. "Look. I won't use the sword except if the Monk needs me to help him, alright old man?" He stared him hard in the eye. "I'm not. Giving. Up. The. Sword." he enunciated each word clearly and loudly. "And I will personally hur-"

"Okay, okay, Inuyasha gave you his word, and I will kindly exorcise this demon from your Village, alright?" Miroku nervously stepped in-front of Inuyasha and interrupted him before he could continue on with his threat. "Then we'll be on our way."

"But Miroku!" Shippo jumped up onto Miroku's shoulder, earning a few spears turned harshly towards the little fox demon. "What about us staying in the Village?" he whispered in his ear.

"Never mind that, Shippo. Let's just forget it. I don't trust this village. But it's not good to let a demon reside inside this Village." He paused. "I also worry deeply for the women." he muttered to himself.

That earned a rolling of the eyes from Shippo and a beating on the head from Inuyasha. "Lecherous monk," Inuyasha muttered, stuffing his hands in his red heavy sleeves. "You better be glad Sango can't hear you."

Miroku ignored him. "So what do you say, Headman?"

The Headman glared at him.

After a long, cold, look, he replied, "No. No exorcism." He started to turn his horse away, his men following behind him.

The gang was ultimately surprised. No person had _ever_ turned down their free willingness to exorcise a demon from a Village!

"… Ex… excuse me?" stuttered the shocked Miroku. "_No?_" At first Miroku thought that the _Headman_ may had been where the Demon was hiding to not accept the offer, but he would've noticed it as soon as he was near him.

"Yes. Now, retreat before we change our minds of attacking you strange, impudent fools." said the Headman, already heading back to where he came from.

"_Fools?_ Who are you calling a fool?" shouted Inuyasha, about to draw his sword in anger when Miroku stopped him.

"Stop. Just let him be." said Miroku. "If he does not want an exorcism, I cannot force it upon him. It's his choice. I must respect that." he said bitterly. "But to refuse an exorcism to make the Village safe…" he trailed off, in thought, frowning to himself. Something seemed suspicious when the Headman had said the word "fools". As if he was hiding something and was surprised they hadn't figured it out, which troubled the Monk.

"Whatever. It's his loss." huffed Inuyasha, tucking his sword back in its hilt. "Let's go." he turned away and started to say that they should head back to where they came from and head a different route when a little boy stopped them. It was the Headman's son. Akihiko, he thought. "Excuse me, mister demon, sir," spoke the boy. His voice was brave, as was his face composure.

Inuyasha stopped, looking surprised. He let his guard on. "What is it, little runt? I don't have time for games." he said, but looking at the kid all the same. He had popped out from behind one of the storage shacks in the midst of the decision of the exorcism, and only then did he choose to come back out; when the Gang was about to leave. He looked so scrawny and grimy, as if he didn't have enough food. And he was bruised all over from who knows what.

Poor guy. It didn't seem like he was the Headman's son, the Headman being dressed in proper attire for a Headman and this little boy dressed like an orphan and looking like he'd be working in the fields all day.

"Umm…" he backed away from Inuyasha but his face looked brave as he shakily said and stared him hard in the eye, "… I'd like you and your Monk friend to exorcise the demon. Please."

[ Only 853 Words but the next Chapter will be up soon.

Definitely a shorty chapter but I felt like, again, it needed to end here.

SO SHORT THOUGH AHHH

Thanks for reading! :) haha

btw… Hunter Hayes, anyone? :)

- Lovely Stories =]

Finished: 11:18PM, August. 3rd, 2012. ]


	13. Chapter Twelve: Decision Made

Lovely Stories =] August. 9th, 2012 to August. 10th, 2012 3:12AM.

[ Hey guys! :) Here's another Chapter for you all, thanks for being so patient. :)

I'm gonna **say this ahead of time**, so **don't say you didn't know**.

**Once Fall begins, I will most likely be busy because I will be going back to school.**

**I will try my best to put up Chapters but in all honesty I will probably not be posting like I have this summer (like waiting two or three weeks). I will probably be posting like I did when I had disappeared for like two or three months.**

**However, that doesn't mean that I will quit this story- certainly not! :O I really want to try to finish it. I like it :-B**

**If you think I'm taking too long in posting a new Chapter, bug me about it! PM haha.**

**^ But don't be mean about it, lol :-B Just a nice little, "Hey, I see you haven't been posting in a while. Any new Chapters coming out soon? Thanks." - Like that :-B**

So yeah.

On the other hand… thank-you SO so much for reading this story, favouriting it, being on the Alert for it, and commenting! :') It means a whole lot to me, so THANK-YOU! :') I'll never stop thank-you guys for it (after-all, maybe a person can never be thanked too many times) so you should get used to it! ;) haha

Alrighty now on with ze story! :) Thanks for reading these long things. Haha

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ****

**** "The Way Things Once Were" Cover is done by ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE. THANK-YOU. :] **]

**Chapter Twelve: Decision Made**

"What are you trying to get at, punk?" said Inuyasha, crossing his arms at the little boy. "Your father said 'no', and we ain't gonna argue with him. Let's go." He started to turn but the little boy quickly ran in-front of him and stopped him, spreading his arms wide and looking up at Inuyasha, shaking just the tiniest bit so that if you didn't look close enough, it appeared that he looked quite sturdy and brave to be in-front of a guy that his father wanted to strike.

"Please!" he cried, his dark eyebrows slanted. "Please exorcise that demon!"

"I told you, kid, we ain't gonna-"

Kagome interrupted him and stepped in; kneeling down to the boy's height, causing him to lower his arms and turning his attention at her. "It's Akihiko, right?"

Curiously, he nodded. "Yes," he replied, now talking to her as if he wasn't just trying to change Inuyasha's mind about exorcising the demon. "I am the Headman's son, his only son. My mother died when I was only four years old due to a terrible fire that killed many others when she went to collect herbs up in our fields. It spread down to the village. My father and I and some other villagers were off getting food, leaving only a few men to guard the women and our village. Not soon after, the fire had appeared out of the nowhere and devoured them all…" He pointed to the far left of him, where a sunny patch of weeds and sowed land stood. Tall crops resided somewhere to the right of where he pointed; those ones must have been planted earlier. "… it was terrible." He shivered, causing Kagome to place a comforting hand on his skinny shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She didn't want to ask how the fire started, to re-open bad memories. She thought the little boy was hiding what he knew about the fire, so he covered it up with a lie.  
>But then again, it could've been a wildfire, since it spread everywhere.<p>

Akihito nodded, shaking off the memories. "Since that happened, Father has been very protective of me, since he cannot produce another child and his wife had just died.

He and a few of his good friends started to rebuild the town, re-building the houses, getting more livestock by money, finding seeds to grow crops… it was a long time before we all recovered, but when we did, my father's friends wanted him to become the Headman of the Village, since the Headman had died along in the fire." He took a breath, (and) then continued. He didn't realize that the rest of the Gang was listening in, too. "At first, my Father was hesitant to take up the position. He had a son to take of.  
>But pretty soon, after much begging and pestering, he took the spot and became Headman of Village.<br>I was very happy for my father, of course, we got all the attention and anything we could have wanted, but then something happened one night.  
>I was in my bed, sleeping next door to my Father when I heard the floorboards creak and the door of his room opening.<p>

I opened my eyes and sat up, looking through the walls as they were easy to see through, but only shadows, one, my father's, up in bed, and another one oddly shaped, kinda crooked, so I couldn't tell who my Father had let in. It was very late at night, usually my Father would be sleeping like I was, but not this night.  
>I thought it was simply just a Villager, a hunch-backed one at that, asking for his assistance, so I lied back down in bed… but when I awoke the next day, my father started to act very strange.<br>He seemed really nervous for the first couple of days, avoiding eye-contact with even me, and didn't talk to anyone, saying he felt "ill".  
>But after-that, he acted quite normal, but I knew he was hiding something."<p>

"And your purpose of the story is?" prompted Inuyasha, an eyebrow raised. "This story of yours isn't goin' anywhere."

Akihito glared up at him, then turned back to Kagome. "What I was building up to was… I think my father is sheltering a demon inside his room."

That earned several gasps and an incredulous look to appear on Inuyasha's face. "How do you know?" he asked, now curious.

Akihito gave him a triumphant grin, finally earning his attention at last. "My father hasn't let me enter his room since that night, and he always used to let me in whenever I wanted to, day or night. It's odd, I'm telling you."

"That is definitely odd…" muttered Miroku, thinking to himself.

"Has the same shadow appeared since that night?" asked Sango, stooping down a little to Akihito's height.

Akihito nodded and turned to her. "Yes, ma'am. I haven't tried to open the door without asking my father, though. He always told me to ask before I enter." He shrugged.

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Miroku said, "Alright... we'll help you." Which earned him a giant beaming smile from the little boy, whose eyes instantly lit up to prove a little lighter than the dark there previously were.

The Gang all looked towards him, eyes wide. "What?!" said Inuyasha. "When did we agree on that? I don't wanna help that old fart." He "hmph'd" and crossed his arms, his hands disappearing in his robe of the Fire-Rat. "After all, he denied our request of helping him. He says he doesn't need it, fine. The jewel shards aren't even in this area, anyway." he said, sneaking a side-glance at Kagome for conformation.

She nodded, unaware of his eyes. "What do you mean, Miroku?" Sango looked curious as well.

Miroku shook them off, still looking at the boy. "Why don't you return back to your house? We'll look after things. Progress will happen during night-fall." He said that so confidently that the little boy, Kagome, and Sango believed him.

The little boy nodded, looking like he wanted to hug the Monk, but then decided against him, giving him one last grin that read as a "Thank-you!" before he ran off forward towards his house.

"Alright Miroku, what the heck was that for? Raising a little kid's hope when we're not even gonna take out the demon-" started Inuyasha.

"We are going to be hiding out in the forests until night comes, and that is when we will exorcise the demon, without any villagers seeing in the broad daylight." Miroku stated, telling each and every one of his friends. "That is the plan."

Why was Miroku so intent on exorcising this demon? The little boy probably softened his heart, thought Kagome. Or maybe it was just his broad fondness for women.

She sighed, and shook her head, closing her eyes. _Oh, Miroku..._

[ Hope you guys enjoyed that! :) Thanks again for your patience! :)

A little bit longer Chapter, HOORAYS! :')

1152(3?) words! :) Cools! :) Not in the hundreds, at least... :S

Till' next time, I hope you guys liked this Chapter and see yah on the next one! :)

Thanks again! :)

Lovely Stories =]

P.S. The ending of this Chapter ended off weirdly… sorry 'bout that… I don't really like how I ended it… should it have been longer? Shorter? Lemme know by Commenting or PM'ing.

and this Chapter Title! Ugh. I dunno if I like it.

Again, thoughts? :O I might change it, if I can think of a new one. I had a couple in mind…

Thanks, guys! :)

P.P.S. **And to repeat, just in-case you "just missed it" up before in my little chatting sessions above the Chapter title, here it is again:**

**"Hey guys! :) Here's another Chapter for you all, thanks for being so patient. :)**

**I'm gonna say this ahead of time, so don't say you didn't know.**

**Once Fall begins, I will most likely be busy because I will be going back to school.**

**I will try my best to put up Chapters but in all honesty I will probably not be posting like I have this summer (like waiting two or three weeks). I will probably be posting like I did when I had disappeared for like two or three months.**

**However, that doesn't mean that I will quit this story- certainly not! :O I really want to try to finish it. I like it :-B**

**If you think I'm taking too long in posting a new Chapter, bug me about it! PM haha.**

**^ But don't be mean about it, lol :-B Just a nice little, "Hey, I see you haven't been posting in a while. Any new Chapters coming out soon? Thanks." - Like that :-B**

**So yeah."**

**THANKS, GUYS! :)** ]


	14. Chapter Thirteen: His Inner Turmoil

Lovely Stories =] August. 10th, 2012 - 2:00PM to 2:47PM.

[ Hey guys! :) Lovely Stories here.

How are you all doing? :)

Here is another Chapter.

Hope you enjoy! :)

Thanks for reading, Commenting, Favouriting, being on the Alert… it means a whole lot to me, so **thank-you**. :')

- Lovely Stories =]

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ****

**** "The Way Things Once Were" Cover is done by ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE. THANK-YOU. :]**

P.S. Title didn't fit in the little box thinger but this is the title below, lol :-B ]

**Chapter Thirteen: Talking Out Loud, His Inner Turmoil, and a Simple Gift**

It took a long time to convince Inuyasha to help out the Village, but they had soon pushed him into it that he had no choice but to join in on the exorcism.

"You're all so annoying," mumbled Inuyasha, obviously pissed off. His arms were crossed and he sat in-front of a thick tree-trunk, mumbling incoherent words and looking away from the others. "Hmph."

The Gang had decided to reside a little bit deep in the Forest close to the Village and where the Fields were so they could still go by unnoticed but still be there in time if they saw anything strange.

They all sat together in a circle, lighting the smallest of fires which someone could only notice if they had a keen nose like Inuyasha's, Kirara's, and Shippo's.

"So when are we heading out, Miroku?" asked Shippo from Kagome's lap, taking a look at him with curious bright eyes.

Miroku peered up at the sky between the tall trees. It was nearing dark, the sky turning the colour of Indigo. "Soon." he said. "I'd like to go when the sky is just nearing its pitch-darkness." He took a breath and then taking a look at Sango, who nodded at him, he turned to Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, I would like you to accompany me in this exorcism. I could use your help, and I think you would do well to help me." Miroku said, looking at Inuyasha's face.

Inuyasha gave him an odd look. "Well, why wouldn't I be going? You were so intent on getting me to join this little plan of yours, why wouldn't I help? Geez. And of _course_ I would do well to help you. I have the Tetseiga and my strength to help you guys out " He glared at Miroku.

"I mean…" Miroku sighed. "… thank-you, Inuyasha." He then turned to Kagome, Shippo, Kirara, and Kohaku. "I would only like Inuyasha to accompany me. Why don't the rest of you stay here with Sango? She'll be here while Inuyasha and I go hunt for the demon."

Kagome, feeling like this was beginning to be like old times when only the guys fought, sighed and nodded, looking at the ground. She felt useless, so she piped up: "I can help out Sango, too." She looked at Sango who gave her a nice smile, like a "Thank-you".

Miroku nodded. "Of course. So now that that's settled… Inuyasha, would you like to head out now?" he asked.

Inuyasha grunted. "Yeah, yeah." He took a look at Kagome before getting up with Miroku and heading off. "You okay?" he asked her, his eyes softening just a fraction. This seemed totally off character of Inuyasha; usually he would only ask this if she was hurt or when he had just saved her.

Kagome quickly hid her surprise as she stared at the fire. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she asked in a dull tone.

"Well-" started Inuyasha but he was soon interrupted by Miroku.

"Let's go, Inuyasha. Now's the perfect time."

All eyes were on Inuyasha.

He finally took his eyes off of Kagome, uncomfortable with the attention, and nodded. "Yeah, sure." and the two headed off.

* * *

><p>There was a little bit of a silence except for the crackling of the fire after the older men had left, before Kagome perked up.<p>

"Oh!" she said.

Sango looked at her.

"What is it, Kagome?" asked Sango. Her brother leaned beside her, sleeping. He must've been really tired. Kirara laid on his lap, also sleeping. Her tail twitched every so often.

"I forgot," she said sheepishly, slipping off her bag and opening it to reveal its very full contents. She made sure not to wake Shippo, who had fallen asleep on her lap. "I had some things in here for you guys before I had…" she trailed off, eyes filled with hurt, before turning hard. "… before I had left." She finished.

She shifted around in the bag, looking for some things in particular.

"Kagome, do you want to talk about it? I'm here for you if-" said Sango, but then Kagome only smiled nervously at her.

"I'm alright. Thank-you, though, Sango. I know you're only trying to help. I just need to heal, on my own. I don't think anyone else can help me." She bit her lip, while still rummaging around.

Sango nodded. "Of course. But if you ever need a friend, I'll be here. After-all, you were all here for me when I had joined you guys."

Kagome's eyes filled with softness as she nodded. "I'm really glad you decided to come along with us, Sango. It's nice to have a girl to talk to in this Era." She grinned. "My friends back my era… I miss them. But sometimes I feel so out of it because I don't go there all too often, yah know?" She paused, looking at Sango's smiling face. "I feel like I can somehow connect to you guys here."

She gave her a little smile as well, not quite reaching her eyes.

At last, she finally found the object she was looking for.

It was a small, Japanese black barrette (( Google Images: Japanese Barrette - First image in first row )) that had a puff of Orange on it shaped like a puffy flower.  
>It was very pretty, and held little designs on it that made it so unique.<p>

"Here you go." Kagome smiled, the smile still not reaching her eyes, but it was enough for that situation. She slipped it onto Sango's lap, who right away picked it up, eyes widening. "I found it at a fair that I had visited the last time that I had gone home before the… incident." She didn't know what to call that one-sided fight. "I was looking for gifts for you guys, had them all in a white baggie, and I instantly thought of you when I saw this barrette. I thought it'd go nice in your hair if you ever felt like hanging around, not fighting." She shrugged.

"Oh, Kagome… it's beautiful, I love it." said Sango, placing her right hand on her mouth, her eyes watering as she held the little barrette. "No-one has given me a gift in a very long time." She smiled a watery-smile. "I am very grateful for this Kagome. Thank-you so much! The colours are so pretty."

Kagome didn't think that a simple barrette would make such an impact on Sango, but it made her feel warm inside… she was glad to make someone happy here. "Glad to hear you like it." she said, feeling a little bit better.

* * *

><p>Inuyasha felt kind of grateful that they only had to make a short trek towards the village. He knew that if it was a longer one than this one, then Miroku would <em>surely<em> nag him about Kagome and apologizing to her. He'd do that… maybe… eventually…

… but then again, he didn't know how to talk to her now without making her upset. Maybe it was for the best if they were just acquaintances; merely talking about strategic plans to fight off Naraku, light conversation about other odd things, and having the awkward silences. If that was what life would be with Kagome from now on… well, that'd suck.

Unless she actually wanted that?

Then he'd be crushed.

"Inuyasha? Inuyasha, can you hear me?" He heard a faint voice before he snapped back to reality. It was Miroku.

"Geez, what?" muttered Inuyasha, trying to cover up his thoughts on Kagome; his inner turmoil.

"Nothing, I was just wondering if you could stop muttering to yourself about Kagome." said Miroku, smugly.

Inuyasha's cheeks instantly reddened. "What? I wasn't!" Crap! Did I actually have an argument with myself out loud without noticing it? Inuyasha thought as he slapped a hand across his forehead, letting it slide down as they reached the Village's outskirts. _Smart move, Inuyasha._ taunted his conscience.

_Shut up,_ he thought back.

"Why are you telling me shut up?" asked Miroku, now sounding annoyed.

Inuyasha mentally smacked himself on the head. "Never mind, it had nothing to do with you." he grumbled. He would have to start stopping having outside, er, _inside_ conversations with himself.

He made a mental note of that, satisfied that at least _that_ didn't come out.

[ That's it!: ) haha I actually really enjoyed writing this Chapter. and I hope you guys did too. :) I threw some humour on Inuyasha's part, I thought it was funny, I hope you guys did too :-B

1375 words :O :O: O HOORAYS! I'm back to the Thousands since yesterday! :-B haha

Woo! A Chapter a day after the other! :) When was the last time I did that? Did I ever? I don't remember, lol :-B

HOORAYS! I will miss that when school starts… ah wells.

Thank-you for all you guys do again! :) I really do appreciate it! :')

- Lovely Stories =]

P.S. Long title much lol :-B I had a time picking one, don't judge! Haha ]


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Huh

Sept. 8th, 2012

[ Hey you guys! :] I'm back for right now.

Enjoy this Chapter, and I apologize for not Posting a Chapter! :( I hope this suffices for you all.

Hope you are all enjoying school, work, which-ever whatever! :)

School is fun. I absolutely love it, still. :')

Oh and I didn't want to spoil anything, so the Chapter title is kinda mysterious… ha, ha.

- Lovely Stories =]

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ****

**** "The Way Things Once Were" Cover is done by ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE. THANK-YOU. :]**

**P.S. Please listen to the song "Ronan" by Taylor Swift. **

**It is absolutely beautiful.**

**It is also incredibly sad.**

**I might write a story to it, just maybe… I don't know if it'd be posted here. **]

**Chapter Fourteen: Huh.**

Inuyasha and Miroku finally reached their destination; the Village.

Inuyasha, for one, was glad that they had finally arrived- that meant that Miroku would stop interrogating him because they had be stealthy, like a mouse.

Miroku kept on shifting his eyes to Inuyasha, giving him a wary look. He knew he was thinking of Kagome. He had been mumbling "Kagome" in his sleep sometimes; he was surprised Kagome herself didn't hear him because she was awake practically all-night since she came back.

He shook his head, giving a long sigh which caused Inuyasha to look up at him irritatingly, his ears twitching.

Mumbling something incoherently to himself, Inuyasha padded silently after Miroku, who was tip-toeing quite gracefully.

Miroku and Inuyasha both looked around before heading towards where Inuyasha smelt the Headman's place. He could recognize that stench anywhere.

With a breath, Miroku slid open the semi-transparent screen door, pausing slightly when the moon lit upon the room.

Quickly, the two hid behind the wood of the door, hoping their shadows wouldn't show.

Deciding they had to do it sooner than later, they both speed-walked into the room and hurriedly shut the door, making sure no inch of bright moonlight could get in. Now it was just through the door, so it wouldn't be suspicious.

Miroku sighed in relief, closing his eyes.

"I wouldn't be so sure of yourself." Inuyasha smirked, folding his arms in his signature Inuyasha pose (( I hope you guys know what that is )).

"And why shouldn't I be so sure of myself?" questioned Miroku, with an eye-brow raised as he opened his eyes slowly.

"Take a look." replied Inuyasha, his smirk growing bigger.

Miroku gave him a look as he warily turned to the Headman.

Or rather, the Headman's _bed._

* * *

><p>Kagome sat staring at the shadows that were created from the flickering flames of the fire as the rest of her friend's slept on. Kagome offered to take first-watch, seeing as she hardly slept these days.<p>

And she never had bags under her eyes! Kagome thought it was an absolute miracle.

She fiddled with the sleeve of her sweater, trying to snuggle tighter. She had let Sango use the sleeping bag, despite the "No no, you should use it!", and let her share it with anyone. It was with Kohaku and Kirara, of course. Shippo had fallen off her lap while having a supposed "happy" dream, Kagome assumed, and now slept on his back, big and small bubbles forming from his snores.

Kagome tried to smile, but couldn't. She just felt too sad, despite the bonding she had with Sango. It was nice to talk to her again. She had missed her friend a lot, and was glad that she accepted her back with open arms. And defended her. That was really nice.

It was just Inuyasha causing her to be upset.

Inuyasha, the one that had made her feel a deep sadness that she couldn't seem to get herself out of. It was like a deep chasm she had fallen into, and she absolutely was tired of it. She wanted to end it.

She sighed. She wasn't even feeling the least bit tired.  
>Even if her eyes <em>did <em>try to droop every now and then, Kagome would pinch herself lightly to prevent them from closing.

Because if she closed them, those nightmares might come back again.

She sighed and started to open her faithful yellow bag, hoping it would have a book in it, heck, maybe even a textbook would be great! That would be quite possible, since she _was_ heading to school originally.

Before she opened the bag, though, Kagome heard a swift rustling coming from near them.

Her eyes narrowed swiftly and she turned to the noise, immediately grabbing her bow and arrow and aiming it at the pitch-blackedness of the forest.

She went left and right, now standing up.

The sound was silent; not moving again.

Kagome, thinking she might've just gotten worked up and it could've easily been a late-night squirrel or rabbit, went to sit back down.

Then the noise came back, a little closer now.

A little bit freaked, Kagome stepped back up, quickly, and immediately shot an arrow into the darkness.

No sound came out, no sound of pain or anything.

Kagome frowned. Why had nothing happened? Was she just imagining things?

But why would it happen twice?

Biting her lip, Kagome grabbed her bag and kept her bow and arrow firmly in her hand.

She decided to head into the forest… alone. Without waking Sango. Because Sango should stay and protect the others, right? That was Kagome's reasoning.

Before she left, though, Kagome quickly ripped a small piece of paper from a back of a book she finally found (Kamisama Ni Aisareru Ikikata Kangaekata) and scribbled down a note. It was pretty vague. _Oh well, _Kagome thought. _I'll be back in no time. There's nothing to worry about. _

Giving a final look to her friends and a deep breath, Kagome headed out into the depths of the dark forest, not knowing what exactly lay ahead.

But she still had hope that it was gonna be all-right.

[ Ooh. Cliff-hanger? I dunno. Yeah? SORRRY. It seemed good to just leave it there.

I tend to be doing that a lot; I'm sorry. :/

ExTREMELY short chapter. Only 852 Words. :/ I apologize deeply for that. Hopefully I getta type another Chapter soon.

Hope you enjoyed!

Songs listened to while writing this Chapter: Taylor Swift – Ronan (multiple times, I did)

Taylor Swift – Breathless (from Hope for Haiti album, I think it's a cover of Better Than Ezra's)

So Easy – Liz Huett (TS's back-up singer, lovely song)

Aand then back to "Ronan".

Thanks for these lovely and beautiful songs and thank-you for reading and commenting and Favouriting! :')

Edited and written by Lovely Stories ! ]


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Surprises and Mysteries

Lovely Stories =] Oct. 8th, 2012 Jan. 22nd, 2013. 9:56PM July. 3rd, 2013

[ Hey, everyone! :) Sorry for such heavily late Chapters. It really irks me that I keep on leaving you all on Cliff-Hangers, and I know, by experience, how much I _really_ don't like that. :/

And yet I'm doing it all to you guys. Ironic, isn't it?

Man, I'm sorry :( I'm just so busy, and stressed right now in a particular subject online… yeahs…

Anywhoos, I'll keep this short and HAPPY THANKSGIVING ! :) (It's Thanksgiving over here in Canada today! :]

^ that was typed on the eighth of October, twenty-twelve. Today it is the twenty-second of January. It is night-time. I am tired. But I feel like writing.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

- and now, today it is April. 27th, 2013. Boy, am I moving slow at this. But I'd like to finish this. And finish it I shall.

Here's a new chapter. FINALLY

SCHOOL IS BUSYBUSYBUSY. And stressful. Which is why I haven't been updating. Sucky :( I'm so sorry about this.

^ and now it is July. 3rd, 2013… 11:12PM… my word. I don't even have a proper excuse, or do I?

Lovely Stories =]

**** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ****

**** "The Way Things Once Were" Cover is done by ME. PLEASE DO NOT USE. THANK-YOU. :]**

P.S. "Storm Warning" by Hunter Hayes, anyone? LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN! 'Kay thanks :] haha

^ Oct. 8th, 2012 ]

**Chapter Fifteen: Surprises and Mysteries**

Miroku groaned, looking around the dark walls of the Headman's room as he realized that the Headman was indeed not in his bed. "Where could he have gone?" Miroku muttered to himself, lifting the blanket from the bed and only finding the remnants of bread crumbs.

Inuyasha shrugged. "I don't know, but it reeks of a demon all over the place." His eyes narrowed as he stared up at the ceiling. "There's a… hole in the ceiling." he said, pointing up at the seemingly large, gaping hole near the back of the room. "What the heck? You go find your way around the house. See if there is anything weird going on and I'll check this out." Miroku nodded, and Inuyasha leapt up towards the ceiling, unsheathing his Tetseiga, and Miroku ran out the door, leaving it open as he left.

Once Inuyasha found his way up on the roof, his ears swiveled around, trying to hear any sudden sounds of movement from all around him.

He still kept a strong hold on his Tetseiga, but placed it back in its hilt as he couldn't smell, detect, or hear anything out of the ordinary. _What the heck is going on here?_ Inuyasha thought to himself as he frowned, his golden eyes flickering around.

His footsteps padded along on the roof of the house with light sounds, not loud enough to wake anybody if anyone was down below.

After walking around on all sides of the roof, Inuyasha concluded that the demon had probably run off in another spot in the village. _I hope Miroku has found something.. I'll go follow his scent. I might meet the demon along the way, because I can't seem to get its scent. And there's not even a full moon tonight. _Inuyasha looked up at the sky, frowning.

* * *

><p>Miroku walked around the house, his whole body tensed as he kept his guard on. He gripped his staff tightly. It was the only thing making noise, other than his ragged breath sounds and the light patter of his feet as he looked around.<p>

He couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary as he peered through closed see-through doors and undearneath tables and inside small jugs. In-fact, everything seemed as average as it would ever be in a Headman's house.

Miroku sighed, about to head out to find Inuyasha when he spotted a door to the right of him as he passed through a hallway. It was almost impossible to see, but Miroku had nearly tripped over an uneven surface in the hardfloored-surface, a large splinter that would've been formed if he had not been wearing any footwear.

He grunted, dusting himself off before he turned towards the door. It looked like it had blended almost completely into the colours of the walls. It had the same faded etched pattern as the rest of the walls inside the house, but the only thing that gave it away was the small, grey handle that rested in the middle right-hand side of it. Miroku frowned. _Something seems… odd about this door, _Miroku thought to himself. _What's behind it?_ He brought his left hand and rested it against the bumpy surface of the door. He instantly jumped back, having felt his hand sizzle.

Sure enough, he brought his hand back, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw indeed that his palm was a little red and his fingertips were singed. It wasn't enough that he could see smoke forming from his fingers like a fire magician or something, but he could actually see that his hand had been burned, if only a little.

He lightly blew on his fingertips and palm to ease the burning sensation, then he took a deep breath and hesitantly touched the door handle.

Surprisingly, the door held no sign of burning him. He touched it again, multiple times, even leaving it there for five seconds or six. Nothing happened.

Satisfied, Miroku gripped the seemingly safe door handle, and he slowly pulled the door open, his face illuminating the darkness of the room inside.

What was inside was a figure that could only be outlined by the blue flame that ignited their body. Regular flames that Miroku had not smelt at all engulfed the room that oddly didn't light anything but themselves up as Miroku found himself pulled in by some unknown force, the door closing rapidly shut behind him. He could not open it from the inside, which he would only come to realize only later. But how would he get over there in the first place, if the there was a circle of flames that surrounded him?

The fire whipped by him as he was slammed against a hard surface, and he fell back, hitting the ground hard. Both his front and back side were hurting. Rubbing his head more than his back, he squinted up, his eyesight extremely fuzzy. He was feeling a little dizzy as well. Somewhere amongst his pain, he found himself thinking, _Why aren't I on fire? I thought that I jut flew through several feet of flames. _He checked his clothing after blinking his eyes a few times, his eyesight coming back into focus. Nothing was even remotely burnt off; it was still only his left hand that was a tad burned.

A little relief gracing his features, he tried to stand up when an icy voice stopped him cold: _"We have been waiting for you."_

* * *

><p>Kagome was kind-of thankful that she had stored her flashlight in her bag. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to see. On the other hand, she was seriously worried that she had a lit-up object in her hand hat might make her a target to curious demons lurking about in the creepy, quiet forest. <em>Ugh, why did I even <em>decide_ to go out here on my own? _Kagome kept on thinking to herself, shaking her head and muttering obscure things underneath her breath. _I'm such an idiot. _She sighed, clutching her backpack closer to herself because it somehow provided her comfort and warmth. It also reminded her of home, and how she had carried so many textbooks around with her and her Mom's delicious meals.

Back then, when she had been travelling regularly with the group, she had had her backpack on her back several times throughout their journeys. She almost always had it on her because it held a lot of useful and important things for her, plus all the goodies that she always got her friends because they didn't have any of those things back in the Feudal Era. She almost smiled at the memories, but then she quickly turned it back into the situation at hand. _Alright, Kagome. Focus. _she thought to herself. _Whatever was making that noise couldn't have gone far. _She looked around, still walking. She couldn't see anything except the trees and shrubs that she was lighting up with her flashlight. Then a sense of worry racked her expression. She didn't want to look back, because she was secretly afraid of what might be waiting for her if she turned around, but she honestly had _no_ idea where she was or where she was going. For all she knew… she was lost, and that was something that she could clearly state for a fact. _Great, Kagome. You just come back and you've already got yourself lost. _She smacked herself on the forehead, but a rather light one at that (she didn't want to make so much noise). _And it's not like anyone will come and find you, because you left the others one of the worst possible notes ever. Oh, and there's also the fact that the only person that could possibly find you is Inuyasha, and you know that you really don't want him to come find you. He'll only get mad at you, or tell me that you're 'useless' for getting lost. Because to him, you apparently are good for nothing. _She sighed once more and stopped in her tracks, rubbing her eyes a bit with her left hand. She was feeling a little tired all of a sudden, a slight yawn escaping her lips. She knew that she couldn't just fall asleep right in the middle of nowhere with virtually no protection, so she carried on, blinking her eyes quickly so as to not fall asleep. Sometimes that little tactic helped her when she was going on late-night excursions with the gang.

Kagome soon found herself yawning more-so than ever. _Why would I choose to be so tired, out of all these moments? _she thought. _I've been awake for so many nights now but now I'm tired? It's so typical. _Sometimes sleep found her at the most inappropriate times, but she had thought that she had trained herself for that. Turns out she was wrong as she nearly fell over in tiredness.

"Snap out of it, Kagome!" Kagome told herself, slapping her cheeks once. Her eyes then widened, realizing the amount of noise that she had made.

Not only had she practically yelled that, but the slap on her cheeks was echoing in her eardrums. Had she really been _that_ loud?

Apparently so, as she suddenly heard something racing all around her that she didn't know where to look, and the last thing that Kagome could remember was her screaming and some sort of odd, deep red powder that seemed to fall from the sky. All around her from her peripheral vision, she swore that she spotted out-of-place flames that she hadn't smelled or seen before, and one single, lone blue flame that rested just in-front of her surprised face.

Her flashlight was dropped to the ground as Kagome suddenly disappeared from sight. She had blended into the darkness of the forest, as did the flames and red powder. There was no sign that Kagome had ever been there, except for the tracks she had made with her shoes in the rough dirt on the ground, and the one flashlight that was still lit-up that had once shone her way to the area where she had just… _vanished_.

And then, suddenly, the odd noises that had persuaded Kagome to check the area out came out for a split second. There wasn't an exact way to describe them. It was just _rustling _and _jostling_. Then, as quickly as they had come, the forest went back to its peaceful and quiet ways.

[ Word Count: 1737, 1703 excluding the names (Ex.: Kagome, Tetseiga)

AT-LAST… I AM WRITING IN THE THOUSANDS AGAIN FOR THIS STORY

Finished chapter: 12:20AM, July. 4th, 2013 (To anyone that is American, and is reading this story… I hope you guys have a fantastic Fourth of July, eh?)

My Canada Day was spent with food and fireworks. Yum and fun!

- lol look what I just found in Chapter Eight of my story: "**Chapter Finished + Edited by me on: **7:02PM, July. 4th, 2012.

I hope you Americans have a good Fourth of July :-B". Kinda similar to what I wrote, and how I ended it on the same day... kinda funny.

**Do you guys think that Miroku's and Kagome's incidents are one and the same? Let me know your thoughts!**

**Why is there no Sango in this Chapter?** I'm sorry! I couldn't find a way to fit her in here- but she'll be in the next one, don't worry!

**When will you be posting next**? Honestly, I am not sure. Please give me a little time as I sort out my schedule and all that. I seriously do hope to post again this week. I've got myself in a writing mode. Woo-hoo!

**STOP WITH THE CLIFF-HANGERS.** I'LL TRY BUT THEY ARE SO SUSPENSEFUL, Y'KNOW? And I know that it's really mean to do it, especially with the sporadic ways that I post. I'm sorry.

**... Why did you stop posting? **I don't really want to go into the details as to why I stopped posting. Something happened, there was a lot of crying, shock, and sadness, and then school handed us all a huge load of work. I don't really want to talk about the "sadness", but I'm guessing that you guys probably already know what I'm talking about now. I don't mean depression, but... you know what I mean. I'll give you a key word: there was much mourning.

Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments or PM me!

Thank-you SO so much for reading this, I really do appreciate it, and if you have been around since the beginning… I could hug you right now. Thank-you a million and one for sticking around with me and being oh-so-patient. Smarties for everyone! Or oranges! I like oranges, too.

A recommended (Summery!) song: "You Always Make Me Smile" by Kyle Andrews!

Til' next time,

Lovely Stories

P.S. This was edited and written by Lovely Stories .

P.P.S. **15 596 VIEWS?! THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU** ]


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